If starting fresh, would you do Extreme equipment again?

[BobMCT]

I am about to create an entire new 8 location intranet supporting approx 200 nodes with two locations supporting about 120 of those.

I am NOT considering Cisco equipment for a multitude of reasons and have been considering Summit X450 24/48 PoE switches (some stacked), all managed for this intranet.

If those of you using Extreme switches, if given this opportunity, would you use Extreme again? Or would you not and consider something else? I'd like to hear any reasons pro or con?

Thanks for ANY and ALL replies!

 

[gigaspeed]

I have been pleasantly surprised with our Extreme gear. While we've had some flukey things happen (usually fixed with code upgrades) they really have been quite reliable. We use Summit 200s, 400s, 450s, Alpine 3802s, BD 8810s and 10808s.

To answer your question...yes I'd say we would definitely use them again if we had to.

 

[Netomaniac]

Me too....we have been using Extreme Summit 48Si ever since I have joined the company, they are pretty reliable and easy to configure then the CISCO's. The command lines in extreme are easily understandable....than the other ones I have seen off late,

yes should use it again,

Don't give up,

Neto...

 

[BobMCT]

Well, thanks to both of you who responded.
I plan on ordering the Summit X450e 48's, about 15 of them, this coming week. I appreciate the vote of confidence with this product line.

Bob

 

[DameSlap]

I hate to say it (as I'm guessing you've already ordered by now), but I (we) wouldn't go near them with a barge-pole...

Sort of...

I've got to admit, we haven't got any X450s, but if our experience of Black Diamonds, Alpines and Summits is anything to go by (and we've got a lot), you probably won't get more than a couple of year's reliable service out of them.

Now this COULD be down to the fact that we have potentially flaky power supplies at many of our sites (difficult to prove that one), so perhaps if you have good power regulation/protection you'd be OK, but the thing is, slightly iffy power supplies have never been an issue for any of the 3Com/Cisco kit I've used in the past anyway, so why go for something that depends on a perfectly clean supply?

Sorry to put a downer on things, but I reckon we wouldn't have much to do if it wasn't for the perputual failure of all our purple equipment.

:-(

 

[Paradoxx109]

I can say that extreme equipment is a great, simple and extremely functional.

I've been working with 48si's for our wimax and now with the X450a. The user interface is very simple to use, although im kinda new for the ExtremeXOS but it maintains a lil bit of the extremeware. I rather prefer extreme that Cisco in matters of user interface.

 

[jsjungle]

I work for an Extreme VAR. We also sell Cisco, HP, and other product lines. I have a number of cusotmers running Extreme gear and they have been very pleased with their purchases. I have yet to see an Extreme switch be returned for failure, other than the occasional DOA box, which happens with all of the major product lines. The biggest advantage our customers have seen in going with Extreme is that they become self-sufficient managers of their network with only a day of training. Overall, Extreme requires a much shorter learning curve than Cisco. Hope that helps.







Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.
-Samuel Johnson

 

[ExtremeTek]

Why don't you ask your Extreme rep. or Extreme Business Partner for references that you can speak with?

Many of my customers have been running on Extreme for +6 years, including the older Alpines and BlackDiamonds. I think DameSlap just had a run o' bad luck with unconditioned power. My biggest problem is my Extreme customers like their stuff too much, so I cannot get them to upgrade their old gear. My Extreme customer don't see a need to upgrade because everything works fine as is and runs reliably with the necessary feature set. Most of my customers will basially run their Extreme gear into the ground, i.e. hit Mean_Time_Between_Failure with very little if any intervention and just RMA the box. I have customers buying used spares and still running on End-of-Sale Summit 48's because they do the job.

Your not going to find a better price/performance ratio than what you get in an X450 switch. It's cats....whatever that means.

If you cannot get references from your Extreme rep. or Extreme Business Partner let me know in this thread and I will see what I can do to get you in touch with some Extreme users.

Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb. - Darth Helmut, Space Balls

 

[jettman96]

I'd be on the fence when it came to starting from scratch but, I will say this for Extreme...

OS is very easy to learn and maintain. And I LOVE EpiCenter 6. EpiCenter has made my life so much easier. It offers tons of features (IP/Mac Finder being one of the best) and is easy to setup.

Just my $.02...