Post Script: I just went to vyatta.com, and apparently they've been acquired by Brocade. The former content of their web site is gone, and as far as I can tell from the Brocade site (http://www.brocade.com/products/all/network-functions-virtualization/index.p...) they *seem* to be calling the software solution the "Brocade Vyatta 5400 vRouter". I assume this means their range of supported hardware devices may be done for. Luckily I kept an archive of all of their wonderful anti-cisco ads...
Too funny. This reminds me of an old experience I had when companies where acquired and we were left out in the cold..... I think on Monday, I will make the recommendation to purchase an IBM xServer 3250 M5 (comes 1 PCIe V3 x4 and x8), throw Quagga on there and call it a day. It will have everything we need except for transcoding? Oh wait! We can buy hardware transcoder line cards as well. The problem is there are only two slots, and one I bet is reserved for some raid controller or something like that... As for the switch, is the 2960G have a proven track record? Thanks for everyone's help :) Nick from Toronto.