Which switch to buy?

[ReactivTony]

Hi,

I've been landed with the job in looking to buy a new switch for our LAN but not really sure which one I should be looking for. Can anyone help?

We currently have 2 Netgear 24port ProSafe Smart Switches 10/100/1000 (GS724T). Linked together with just a RJ45. From reading these switches are not stackable so we are suffering from big performance issues, hence a new purchase.

Now I can get the Netgear ProSafe 48 Port Gigabit (10/100/1000), Stackable Smart Switch (GS748TS) since we already use Netgear. But there are so many like 3com etc

On our network we have an internal CRM system for use in our call centre with 5 SQL servers as well as our domain (SBS) and a couple of external backup devices. There are approx 50 desktops. With the demands and traffic generated from our call centre to the SQL servers we might need something more powerful than can process everything quickly.

Any thoughts and anyone with previous experience in this area would be much appreciated!

Tony

 

[Anti-Trend]

The Cisco/Linksys Layer-3 stuff is pretty good for the money, it stacks, and has a better management UI than any Netgear stuff I've ever used. Might be worth a look.

EDIT: The model we are using here is SGE2000 if it helps.

 

[la1]

also there are used switches on ebay. I just bought a Cisco Catalyst 2950

 

[Anti-Trend]

also there are used switches on ebay. I just bought a Cisco Catalyst 2950

Problem with eBay'ed Cisco gear inparticular is that an amazingly high amount of it is actually counterfeit. Apparently the Chinese make *extremely* cheap knockoffs of popular models which widely circulate as Cisco gear, and most of it comes from eBay. The quality is poor, and there are concerns about backdoors in these products.

counterfeit cisco ebay - Google Search