Catalyst 9600 at Core and Alcatel OmniSwitch at Edge

[alisiddiqui1]

Hi Experts

Need an advise here. One of my customer have Alcatel OmniSwitch based network, their core is Obsolete but Edge and TOR Switches are under support. Customer is looking for an option to migrate core to Cisco so that later on they can move complete network to Cisco as and when their budget permits. 

I can see Catalyst 9606 can be a perfect fit, however, I am not sure whether there will be any interoperability issues between Core and Edge layer post migration. Any thoughts on this or any whitepaper / interop document that can suggest best practices to be followed?

[marce1000]

 - As long as common agreed upon protocols for SPT and trunk (e.g.) are agreed upon I see no fundamental problems. Network Access Control may be more cumbersome if it is not all smooth-cisco. Here is an example article on compatibility :

             https://www.alcatelunleashed.com/viewtopic.php?t=17779

 M.

[alisiddiqui1]

Thanks alot, really helpful 

[balaji.bandi]

Catalyst 9606

have you looked at the pricing of this kit, not a small price cake here ( just want to head up since you mentioned budget)

what is the requirement future, how many ports are now in the existing core switch?

[alisiddiqui1]

Hi, yes… i have seen the pricing and other associated expenses like DNA subscription ☺️

Idea here is to move completely to Cisco infrastructure at a later stage, since replacing complete Edge, Core, and TOR doesn’t justify vendor shift as only core switches are EoL and there is a replacement model available from existing vendor. A gradual phased shift will be an easier approach to get required budgeting approvals.