I realize this is a very general question, but I wasn't able to find anything really useful - here or elsewhere.
I'm currently looking for switches that could be used to run a network with a few thousand hosts. At the moment, we are using Cisco 3550/3560 for access and C3750/C4500 for edge/core.
Since it's time to go from FastEthernet access and a gigabit core to GigabitEthernet access and a 10Gbit core we'll need some new devices.
However, there are so many network switch vendors and operating systems:
- Cisco / IOS
- hp (*)
- Juniper / JUNOS
- Force10 / FTOS
- Extreme Networks / ExtremeXOS
How is one to choose between them? Or are the differences so minimal that one should just go with what is already there (which would in our case be Cisco)?
(*) Actually, I couldn't find the name of the operating system running on hp switches. If someone knows please edit.