Network Upgrades

[T1junkie]

My organization is planning a major network renovation and we have several contractors bidding on the project. and I was curious how Extreme Networks http://www.extremenetworks.com Hardware stacks up against Cisco Hardware

Contractor #1 Proposes using Cisco Catalyst 2960 series switches (downgraded from Catalyst 3750 due to cost)

Contractor #2 Proposes using Extreme Summit 200 series switches in conjunction with Colubris Wireless Technology

are there are Pros/Cons to each?

I had never heard of Extreme before contractor #2 so I don't know their reputation/hardware, the extreme switches are about $200-$300 cheaper than the Cisco ones.

any info that can help me illuminate this topic would be grateful, I can provide more information if necessary

Our network services about 350 Mixed Platform Workstations


Thanks,
T1

 

[IBMan]

Well i know Cisco is good, never heard of Extreme either.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Well i know Cisco is good, never heard of Extreme either.

Extreme is good as well, I actually don't have experince on them but their liked. However Cisco is the standard and 300$ isnt much to go with something soo tried and true.

And now a quote

"IT people have gotten fired for buying hardware that has not worked well in the past, but nobody has ever got fired for buying cisco"

 

[IBMan]

Extreme is good as well, I actually don't have experince on them but their liked. However Cisco is the standard and 300$ isnt much to go with something soo tried and true.

And now a quote

"IT people have gotten fired for buying hardware that has not worked well in the past, but nobody has ever got fired for buying cisco"

i may officially steal that quote...lol

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

What cisco gear are ya using? ^^^

 

[T1junkie]

where im really stuck is both contractors are graduates of this school and taxpayers so im trying not to step on too many toes... not to mention the 3-4 HP Resellers in our locality breathing down my neck...

#1 advocated a entirely wired cisco solution which came to about $26,400 which i got down to $19,900 by shopping around

#2 suggested we use Extreme wired and Colubris Wireless (Enterprise wireless technology) to decrease our port density. that came in around $16,400

for a public school this is a significant cost difference.

#1 raised an issue with wireless technology using hub technology (I don't get what he means by that exactly, acts like a repeater?) my other concern was if we have 25 active workstations on a single access point (as per #2s specs) I'm concerned that it may create a bottle neck between the Access Point and the switchs in the IDF this would be a 100Mb Copper Line, especially looking at this from a long term standpoint, right now the most bandwidth intensive application we have is Ghost which would be a monthly (at most) venture.

Am I just suffering from bandwidth Paranoia?

Thanks,
T1

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

A single 802.11G access point will give you 25 meg of bandwidth shared to ALL the computers. This means if you're all doing something at once you are only going to get a meg of speed.

If you are logging onto a domain, which you would at school this can be TERRIBLY slow expisally since students all login and out at virtually the same times.

 

[Law]

You need to secure your wireless access point, that means you will need to get a switch that can do VLAN. Don't just take cost into consideration when buying network devices. You buy them for the features that you need and you plan for future upgrades.

Ask "Will this 100Mbps switch be suffient enough for your traffic or will you need to buy gigabit 1000Mbps switches to support the internal bandwidth" Ghost will use alot of bandwidth, but it depends on how your network topology is setup and how much traffic get used by the application.

Acess point are in a sense like a hub, they are getting more advanced. For example Cisco Aironet can do VLAN, many of the switch technology are being implented into modern AP now. So look around for features.

My suggestion is you can still save money if you get a mix of vendor, this will only help you if you consider what features do you need. Take security in mind and how the network will grow like "should I buy a switch with more ports now or have to buy additonal switches and spend more on hardware cost later"....

I'm done for now I'll be back, back to doing my stuff hehe

 

[Law]

The contractor was probably concerned about security when using a wireless network. I'm pretty sure if you set it up right you won't run into any problem. Isolation is the best method, Keep the wireless network isolated with a firewall and VLAN away from the network resources and then configured the firewall to allow only those who are authorized to. Limit signal leakage...I can go forever telling you about wireless security..it get's boring afterward

 

[T1junkie]

Well Contractor #1 came back with another quote around $17,000 so I think we're going to go with him.

we may also look into wireless coverage as an additional project, #2 was definatly concerned with security and walked us through how he could do it, this guy is a wirelss specialist so I'll take his word for it...

@Law: yea we were advised to attach the wireless to the DMZ port on our firewall and isloate it from potentially sensitive areas, he also gave us a spiel on how well it integrates on the security end.

Thanks for all of your suggestions/comments/etc