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Gold-e-Locks Ltd and the 3 Switches


June 16, 2016


Once there lived a portfolio of switches that could do all sorts of wonderful things in a network. They had the speeds, they had the feeds and they were trusted by the good people who used them to build their infrastructure. However, one day Gold-e-Locks Ltd were wandering through the forest of network providers and looking for a decent sized switch to use in their mid-sized business at a cost that wouldn’t give their CFO heart palpitations.

Gold-e-Locks Ltd needed a switch that was smart yet simple to use since some of their sites needed an easy-to-use business network switch which was reliable and affordable. Could they have basic Quality of Service (QoS) at these sites? Could they have PoE+ in there as well? In their main HQ they needed something a little beefier, and managed with layer-3 features, advanced security and energy saving features (as they were trying to be better about being green!) It was a dilemma and Gold-e-Locks Ltd felt totally lost in the woods.

Gold-e-Locks Ltd came across the Cisco Catalyst range, and looked at the Catalyst 2K’s, but was it for them? Whilst a fantastic switch on the smaller side of the Catalyst portfolio, was it still just a bit too big for what they needed? It was green and could more than cope with what they needed with a range of features from Netflow and AVC through to automation and port config but alas, it was just too big.

They decided to look at the Cisco Small Business range, and looked at the 100 series unmanaged switch. Once again, a lovely little switch which would connect together their network without too much complexity, but this time it didn’t quite do all that they needed since now they needed to know if their network ever went down they could dial into it to diagnose the issue. If they were making this bed, they were going to have to lie in it, so it had to be up to the job.

Then, as if by magic, they came across the new Next Generation Managed and Smart Switches. Namely the Cisco Small Business 350 series managed switch and the 250 series smart switch and they were JUST right. With 16 new models they were spoilt for choice. These lovely little switches ticked all the boxes for what they wanted and happily at an affordable price to keep the CFO happy (and alive!).

They were out of the woods, and with not a bear in sight!

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