linksys versus cisco

[jimb]

I have a problem. My boss and his son are MCSE types who question why we should continue to pay for Cisco Switches for our core when they can get linksys switches for a fraction of the cost. We are an Enterprise that relies heavily on the availabitlity of our core during a specific time frame of the year to make our money. I find myself in the awkward position of sounding like I am defending my job when I recommend staying with Cisco and spending the money. Anyone else running into this type of delima? Any recommendations on how to deal with it?

[amit-singh · Accepted solution]

Hi Friend,

I can understand your situation here. Just ask you boss, whether he wants to run his business for a long or want to wrap it up in a short while after making the money :-)

Linksys products are targetting the SOHO market and not meant for a large enterprise or an ISP environment. they lack the features and other capablities to meet the high traffic needs in a large traffic environment..

Cisco Products are very reliable products with all the features like HA, scalability, reliability, invertment protection, and many more...

Though linksys products are also the Cisco products but targetting a different segment.

let me know if that helps...

HTH, Please rate if it does.

-amit singh

[jimb]

Thanks. I appreciate the response. I guess it's up to them to decide.

[ajagadee]

James,

I think what your boss is asking is a valid question and needs to be answered from you in detail from technology standpoint.

Couple of things that you can do and best thing is a write up, if your boss gives you the time ;-)

1. Compare the feature, functionality, scalability and exposure. Gather as much information on possible.

2. Pros and Cons involved in going with one solution over the other.

3. Seek assistance from your local sales team. They are an excellent source for product information.

Once you provide your input, it has to be your boss or his/her uppper management who has to make a decision based on business justification.

And well, if they choose the "Higher Risk" path based on business justification, make sure that you have battery in your pager all the time :-)))

Let me know if it helps.

Regards,

Arul

[jradke]

The Cisco line is well established and proven. There is simply no comparison of a Linksys and a Cisco product. One is designed for performance and reliability for the enterprise, provider, carrier, education, and government space. The other is truly SOHO where periodic hang-ups, power cycling, or replacement is tolerated. Another angle to look at is the estimated mean-time between failure.

[mmorris11]

Another thing to consider is how Cisco carefully manages the life cycle of a product.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_end-of-life_policy.html

Cisco is what it is because of their excellent service to the enterprise market over the last several years. SOHO product management is very different than enterprise prodect management. Linksys, netgear, D-link, take your pick are bottom feeders that produce products on shorter life cycles such that you may buy gear from those sources and find out they are discontinued or not supported in haphazard fashion where Cisco has a very slow disciplined way of phasing out old products. Just imagine if the Cisco Catalyst 6500 series of switch dissapeared from cisco.com tomorrow.. Ug! Search linksys.com for words like "discontinued" and "end of life".. You'll see what I mean. The bottom line, if this business is a real enterprise, then these consideration are important. IME, server guys just don't understand. I am with you bro!

HTH

[ge4sat]

At a more basic level, I ran into a situation where I was trying to troubleshoot a problem for a SMB that has one of these types of devices. They are not managed. You can not get in an look at errors incrementing. How do you track down a problem with congestion, slowness etc...when you cant do any analysis from the device. I literally told the business "in order for me to troubleshoot the issue more effectively, that they really should upgrade to a commercial class switch. It would cost lots more for Professional Services at $150 an hour to have someone come out with a sniffer and figure out what you could find from looking at interfaces and logs. Hope this helps a little.