On Fri, Sep 24, 2004 at 10:45:01AM -0400, Drew Weaver wrote:
I just find the whole idea of Cisco amusing, they still sell new 7500 series routers for 6 figures with the right configurations, and they've been around for 10 years, in what other industry can you take a product that is a decade old, hasn't advanced in technology, and still sell them new for $100,000?
You're asking the wrong question, and with wrong basis. 7500 platform has evolved significantly over time. Think about RSP1, and *IP linecards, all with centralized RSP-based process/fast switching. Nowadays you have z-Chassis, RSP16, VIP8, PAs, with distributed CEF. Also, you have a large range of interfaces available, even somewhat exotic ones. And you can still use the old *IP linecards without having to make too many compromises (you'll lose some features on those *IP based interfaces, and dCEF from/to them). I'm seeing a lot of RSP4/VIP[24] based 7507/7513 still in nice use, basically unchanged in terms of upgrades since around five years. I can think of very few products in the ISP network device industry which do survive such a long usable life cycle, shifting nicely from the very "high-speed" core down to access/pop-in-a-box applications and still run code (12.2S) which has almost all of today's technical bells and whistles. The 7500 line is clearly an outstanding example of what kind of gear the industry needs. IMHO, said by a known Cisco anti-fan. YMMV.
Although admittedly most sensible people buy them on ebay for a grand these days.
Yup. Regards, Daniel