ExplodingLemur

Were there any problems you had to overcome in the transition? I feel pretty confident in our ability to configure and manage either Cisco or HP (especially with a Cisco to HP ACL conversion tool we were given), but there are always those hidden problems that can pop up. The stackables weren't quite as attractive to us, we need a lot of fiber interfaces (1gig now, with some 10gig in the future) but very little copper at the core. What it really comes down to for us is what's within our budget for the initial purchase as well as ongoing support, and which is most likely still going to be serving our needs 10 years down the road.

Old thread, but to answer the original question the E series switches are HPs original Procurve line, and the A series are acquisitions from 3Com/H3C running Comware.

We're looking to replace our aging core, Cisco 6513s with Sup2s that were installed 12 years ago. We've narrowed it down to the HP A10500 series (newer, faster version of the A7500) or the Cisco 6500E with Sup2Ts (Nexus 7K9 is out of our budget). We're primarily a Cisco shop, but we have some experience with HP A series switches that we just installed in a new building. The 6500E platform would be familiar, but is slightly more expensive and we're concerned about its longevity (the 6500 has been around quite a while). The A10500 is fairly new, it would be different than Cisco (but the CLIs are close enough that it shouldn't be a problem), but is cheaper and has better performance. Does anyone have experience with the A10500, or going from Cisco to HP, or from HP to Cisco?