localzuk Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 As I'm going to be re-doing a school and have various needs for network switches at the moment, I thought it might be time to re-look at the market. We are currently a HP-only house, and have been for a decade (as are all the other schools in the Trust). My question is, what else is good now? My upcoming needs are for a new core switch here with capacity for 20 10GbE SFP+ ports, and 96 1Gbit ports (copper), and then a bunch of edge switches.
Willott Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 We're starting to push our Cisco out in favour of Huawei. Great price point, and seem rock solid. Virtual stacking capable and the guys in the UK are good a putting together a sensible spec. 2
Achandler Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 My prices for Huawei seeme dthe same region as HP to be honest.
localzuk Posted March 8, 2017 Author Posted March 8, 2017 Anyone looked at the Ubiquiti switches? They seem preposterously cheap.
Achandler Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 @richbrowncardiff is using them, or has just started to. I'm a big fan of Unifi, but the switches are still a little new for me to risk (mainly because im looking at my core), edge switches I would use them.
mtillbrook Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 I would stick with HP or go with Cisco if you have expertise in configuring and maintaining Cisco kit! There are plenty of others around obvioulsy - I've heard a few good things about Brocade recently but never used them and don't know where thier price point lies compared to others!
AndiMarv Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 I moved all of my switches over to Ubiquiti a few years back, Went for the EdgeSwitch variants as at the time the UniFi switches were so new they were not with UK suppliers. I have had almost no problems with the switches since putting them in, I find them really robust and excellent value for money compared to others I had quotes for. Support can be a bit lacking with ubiquiti stuff, there is a really active support forum but getting anything in the way of answers from Ubiquiti themselves is really difficult!
localzuk Posted March 8, 2017 Author Posted March 8, 2017 I moved all of my switches over to Ubiquiti a few years back, Went for the EdgeSwitch variants as at the time the UniFi switches were so new they were not with UK suppliers. I have had almost no problems with the switches since putting them in, I find them really robust and excellent value for money compared to others I had quotes for. Support can be a bit lacking with ubiquiti stuff, there is a really active support forum but getting anything in the way of answers from Ubiquiti themselves is really difficult! What's the warranty on the stuff like? I know in reality I could simply buy 2 of everything and still come in cheaper than HPE but warranty is always good to know about.
NB9457 Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 We're looking at the Dell N series, £450 for a 48 port 10Gb edge switch and around £2k for a 24 port 10Gbe stackable core. Did look at ubiquiti but the core switch stack speed is only 10Gb, plus I don't think there is much in terms of redundancy at the core?
foofighterjim Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 We're looking at the Dell N series, £450 for a 48 port 10Gb edge switch and around £2k for a 24 port 10Gbe stackable core. We are also looking into the Dell N series, I would have liked to have got some hands on time with the kit at BETT but alas they didn't have any on their stand.
PotNoodleTech Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 If your already a HP shop then stick to HP. I won't move away from HP now unless there is an absolutely show stopping reason to do so. (e.g. they go bust, or double their prices)
AndiMarv Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 There is the manufacturers 1 year warranty, I didn't ask many questions about extended warranty as I have one unopened tucked away should there be a break down.
NB9457 Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 We are also looking into the Dell N series, I would have liked to have got some hands on time with the kit at BETT but alas they didn't have any on their stand. We already have 4 we bought and they went in over September as a trial, so far they seem ok! Apparently heard of some in the past needing firmware fixes, but support is good. The other choice was Ubiquiti, but the Dell does seem more of an enterprise grade. It's tough! 1
localzuk Posted March 8, 2017 Author Posted March 8, 2017 (edited) We're looking at the Dell N series, £450 for a 48 port 10Gb edge switch and around £2k for a 24 port 10Gbe stackable core. Those prices seem a little low. Everywhere I look, Dell has a 48 port 1GbE/4xSFP+ switch at around £900, and the 24x SFP+ N4032F comes in around £4k. Where are you getting those prices from? If your already a HP shop then stick to HP. I won't move away from HP now unless there is an absolutely show stopping reason to do so. (e.g. they go bust, or double their prices) It is expensive now, compared with others on the market - with budgets being squeezed, I need bulletproof arguments as to why we're spending £8k on our core when we could get alternatives cheaper. Edited March 8, 2017 by localzuk
NB9457 Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 Those prices seem a little low. Everywhere I look, Dell has a 48 port 1GbE/4xSFP+ switch at around £900, and the 24x SFP+ N4032F comes in around £4k. Where are you getting those prices from? It is expensive now, compared with others on the market - with budgets being squeezed, I need bulletproof arguments as to why we're spending £8k on our core when we could get alternatives cheaper. We bought the ones we currently have from ETB, they were new open box £450 or refurb £400. Our Dell account manager also gave us a good price on the core with support, so should we go fully Dell, we will get the Core from them as well as 1 or 2 Edge just for support reasons!
ultima170387 Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 It is expensive now, compared with others on the market - with budgets being squeezed, I need bulletproof arguments as to why we're spending £8k on our core when we could get alternatives cheaper. We are in the same boat looking at upgrading old switch hardware. We are HP at the moment but the quotes for new have come in over twice that of other vendors. We have been recommended the Netgear M4300 series by 2 of our suppliers. Anybody use Netgear?
richbrowncardiff Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 Anyone looked at the Ubiquiti switches? They seem preposterously cheap. Hey i'm using them been installed just over 2 weeks. Been good on the whole had 3 dodgy ones which were RMA'd but the whole experience has been excellent. I personally don't see the point in having a really expensive "Core" with loads of resiliency. We are a really large school (1800 students) 200 staff etc and we just have a few spares in stock to allow for RMA time if anything goes wrong. I'm sure a lot of people would strongly disagree with me on the whole core switch thing but we are a school not a bank. downtime is annoying but really how long does it take to swap out a switch?? in my case 10 minutes. The bang per buck is outstanding on these and although only really just started with them to me its a no brainer. I wish I had done it years ago! one central managed console see and configure everything. its great.
NB9457 Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 We are in the same boat looking at upgrading old switch hardware. We are HP at the moment but the quotes for new have come in over twice that of other vendors. We have been recommended the Netgear M4300 series by 2 of our suppliers. Anybody use Netgear? Used them in primaries with basic configs, no VLANS or anything fancy, but they were reliable, decent transfer speeds, some have been running four years or so now with no problems! 1
sparkeh Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 Been using the Ubiquiti here for a couple of years now. No issues as yet. We used to use all HP but when we saw the price of the Ubiquiti switches and the features you get we thought it worth a punt. You don't get the warranty of the majors but then at the price you can afford to replace if needs be.
localzuk Posted March 8, 2017 Author Posted March 8, 2017 I'm getting pricing on Ubiquiti and Dell at the moment. Not sure about the Huawei, the issue I have is their site is fairly incomprehensible!!
zag Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 Let us know what models you go with. I've been using netgear switches for year and they have been rock solid and most importantly to us Quiet, but it is coming round to upgrade time.
mtillbrook Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 Let us know what models you go with. I've been using netgear switches for year and they have been rock solid and most importantly to us Quiet, but it is coming round to upgrade time. I always used to swear by Netgear but they've not got a great reputation these days with a lot of people complaining about slow network speeds across links etc
localzuk Posted March 8, 2017 Author Posted March 8, 2017 I used some Netgear switches a long while back in the local small primaries (they needed something a bit better than the hubs they had, as they wanted to do some video conferencing). I hated them. The UI was awful. So it put me right off.
sparkeh Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 Oh word of warning. The Ubiquiti PoE switches are noisy! And I mean *noisy*
localzuk Posted March 8, 2017 Author Posted March 8, 2017 Oh word of warning. The Ubiquiti PoE switches are noisy! And I mean *noisy* We run 2650's here at the moment. They sound like angry termites. So, they can't be much louder
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