Have you ever seen, or been, those companies that will be looking for new switching gear? Have you ever noticed the things that they look for in a switch? From my experience, the #1 thing that 'most' (not all) companies look for is price. I have seen many companies in the past purchase a new switch based solely on the price, simply because they do not know what else to consider when purchasing a new switch. I recall one point in the past where a customer had two switch quotes in front of them. One of them was $600 and the other was $5,500. I remember his saying "They do the same thing, don't they?" Open mouth and puke. Well, if you mean only a connection point in the network, then I guess you are right. However, there is much more to looking at switches than it being a "connection point" in the network. I have four primary things I tell my customers they need to look at:
1. Performance of the switch
2. Features of the switch
3. Price of the switch
4. Five year future use of the switch
What are the performance specs of the switches you are comparing? Have you compared the switches that are competing with each other in hardware performance specs? Do the switches have the features you need for voice? For security? For special network configuration options? In five years from now, will that switch serve your needs for the company? NOW tell me that price should be your only consideration, and go home and rest easy knowing you did your company good service.
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