Is Cisco equpiment de facto for you?

[jbates at brightok.net (Jack Bates)]

On 1/10/2011 9:31 AM, Brandon Kim wrote:
> Would you say that it's fair to say that if you are serious at all
> about being a service provider that your core equipment is Cisco
> based?
>
> Am I limiting myself by thinking that Cisco is the "de facto" vendor
> of choice? I'm not looking for so much "fanboy" responses, but more
> of a real world experience of what you guys use that actually work
> and does the job.....
>

You have to really narrow the network criteria. What's good for DSL 
subscriber termination with or without subscriber management features 
(on router, or handled externally), in core networks a 
t1/t3/oc3/gig-e/oc48/10G+ speeds, mpls features, etc.

The first kickoff on any network is if it is service provider or 
enterprise. The feature sets and types of boxes differ greatly between 
these for most manufacturers (as does price).

I've been happy with, and disappointed with, Cisco, Extreme, Juniper, 
and Brocade. There's a few others out there that I haven't used or tested.

In the Terabit market, I love Alcatel and Juniper, but I can't afford 
the terabit market. :)


Jack