[c-nsp] Nexus 2000 vs Catalyst 4948 for access layer

[Michael K. Smith]

Brad:


On 2/9/10 8:07 PM, "Brad Hedlund" <brhedlun at cisco.com> wrote:

> Ray,
> My point there, put another way, is that Data Center operating costs are going
> to be scrutinized more now than ever before.

They are always scrutinized by those of us supplying those services.  I'm
sure there were some folks in the 90's .com bubble that were able to throw
dollars around, but almost all data center ops that I know of are working
with clearly defined cost/benefit data.

> Internal IT needs to get lean and mean.  The real possibility of wholesale
> outsourcing of Data Center applications and operations to cloud providers is
> just around the corner.

Really.  Centralize all that is decentralized and decentralize all that is
centralized.  Rinse.  Repeat.  I appreciate the benefit of decentralized
infrastructure for particular applications and environments, but it is not a
panacea.  If you work in regulated environments (HIPAA, SOX, PCI, etc.) then
"the cloud" is not sufficient for your regulatory needs.  However, you can
build your own "cloud" which we used to call a Wide Area Network.

In addition, the true costs of data center operations, regardless of whether
or not it's my DC or Google's DC, are power and cooling.  And most of us are
working *very* hard at minimizing those recurring costs.  A switch?  A
router?  Those costs are small in comparison to cooling 100k of data center
with 15Kw per rack.

> Depending on your role in IT, that could be a good thing, or a bad thing.
> Those who are viewed as champions for driving efficiency and reducing total
> cost of ownership will do just fine.
> 
OPEX vs. CAPEX.  Going to "the cloud" reduces CAPEX but I've yet to see
where it uniformly reduces OPEX.  There are lots of applications that
benefit greatly, and others that don't.  There are some evolutionary
concepts at play, but I don't see the Sea change that $vendors are seizing.

> Disclaimer: I speak for myself. These are my opinions, and not necessarily
> those of my employer.
> 
Then you should post from your gmail account.

Regards,

Mike