Core switch options for a small school

[m25man]

The 4500 are still on the HP website:
HP E4500 Switch Series - HP Networking

entire range, much of which was originally 3com:
Networking switches - HP Networking

HP E4500G Switch Series (discontinued) - HP

[CyberNerd]

We're talking about different switches; that's the gigabit version, the 4800(G) and 5500 (G) offer similar functionality. The 4500 is still available:

Discontinued product
» HP E2600 Switch Series
» HP E3400 cl Switch Series
» HP ProCurve 1800 Switch series
» HP ProCurve 2300 Switch series
» HP ProCurve 2512/2524 Switch series
» HP ProCurve 2700 Switch series
» HP ProCurve 2900 Switch series
» HP ProCurve 408 Switch
» HP ProCurve 5300xl Switch series
» HP ProCurve 6108 Switch
» HP ProCurve 9300m Routing Switch series
» HP ProCurve Edge 8100fl Fabric Switch series

discontinued Networking - HP Small & Medium Business products

Good to see the procurves are getting replaced with 3com though.

HP do really need to get their sh*t together with their website though -

[sidewinder]

HP do really need to get their sh*t together with their website though -

Agreed, it is utterly confusing. I'm trying to compare various switches, but they seem to want you to pore over a datasheet for every model just to see it's specifications.
What is the difference between A and E series? Is it simply that A are ex-3Com and E are HP?

Anyway, thanks for the help everyone. Looking at both HP and Netgear options

[CyberNerd]

Agreed, it is utterly confusing. I'm trying to compare various switches, but they seem to want you to pore over a datasheet for every model just to see it's specifications.
What is the difference between A and E series? Is it simply that A are ex-3Com and E are HP?

Anyway, thanks for the help everyone. Looking at both HP and Netgear options

no, the E4500's are ex 3com too. I'd personally go for an E4800G or E5500G with a module for the fibre.

[bio]

What is the difference between A and E series? Is it simply that A are ex-3Com and E are HP?

The HP A series are actually the H3C series and some high end 3com switches....the HP E series are 3com switches and the HP procurve product line..

I would stick with HP if i were you.

bio..

[snoerre]

Go for a 3Com 4800G or now HP E4800. As you need more fiber connectors get the 24x SFP version. It also has 8 shared copper ports.

Talking about comparison:

Comparison of stackable switches - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[sidewinder]

Just thought of something that didn't occur to me before.

If I was to seperate the 2 4500G switches I currently have, put 1 in the server room, leave 1 in the IT suite. Trunk 4x1GB fibre between them. Then buy a decent HP 10/100 switch for the 2nd IT suite switch, and trunk a few ports between the 2.

My reasoning is, we've already got 2 very decent L3 switches that are way overspecced for what they do, why not utilise one for our core?

I'm not definately going to do this, it's just an idea