[j-nsp] Upgrade from M10i?

[Richard A Steenbergen]

On Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 12:47:47PM -0500, Eric Van Tol wrote:
> M120 is nice, but if all you need is ethernet, the MX will be much
> more cost effective over time.  Plus, no oversubscription on the
> ports.  More costly upfront, but compare the cost per GE port and the
> MX wins hands down.  Judging from the requirements of being a
> transit/peering edge router, I wouldn't say the DPCE-R-Q DPC is
> necessary, so this makes the DPCE-R-20GE-2XGE (2x10GE and 20x1GE) an
> attractive choice.  IMO, the only reason to use the M120 is if you
> require non-Ethernet access.  While MX can now do non-Ethernet PICs, I
> can't see how it's worth taking up two DPC slots to do so, unless you
> have slots to burn and *really really really* need to throw a SONET
> PIC into it to satisfy a particular part of your network design that
> can't be satisfied throwing an add'l router in at a fraction of the
> cost.

The problem with MX in such small configurations is the base chassis
cost. I'm fairly certain someone at Juniper was sniffing glue when they
priced the 240 and 480, the difference is so minimal that there is no
good reason not to just buy all 960s. Unless you are just completely
unable to get enough space at any price, the only reason I've seen to
ever buy less than a 960 is that the 240/480 will run on 90-120V AC
while the 960 requires 200-240V. If you really do need a small platform
and limited number of ports, it is extra hard to cost justify the MX vs
other platforms.

Of course the Internet rumor mill has it (I haven't heard anything about
this through official channels, so at least there are no NDAs to worry
about :P) that there is a new baby MX product in the works. Supposedly
this would be something like a 8x10GE fixed config or some similar mix
of 10GE/1GE in a modular config, in a 2U chassis with real MX hardware
and features (i.e. not EX). If this helps solve the base chassis cost 
problem for such a small config, I'll be the first one in line.

-- 
Richard A Steenbergen <ras at e-gerbil.net>       http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras
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