Steinar, Yes, the PL has pricing that has changed for us at least, and will be changing for others as well. Expect Tetra to be selling for less in short time (if not already). Looks as if the GE OSM has dropped in price too. As Deepak pointed out, YMMV based on application. For me, I must look across the gamut of services and cards, like 4-port OC-12c ATM, 4-port CHOC-12 to DS1, 4x OC-48 ports, while considering chassis density, etc. In the time I've spent with the 7609, and admittedly that has been fleeting, I have come away disappointed more than impressed, but I have a wider array of services to support. For many applications, I think it is phenomenal - for example, security services. But those aren't core routing services. I would be interested in seeing, say, a 7609-GSR or better yet 7609-T640 bakeoff. I think that would prove 2 things - 1) you get what you pay for, and 2) purpose-built routers are still better at routing heavy loads with diverse media. Sure, the loaded 640 will be more expensive, but it will most definitely knock the power supplies off the 7609 in general performance. Perhaps the SUP-720 will change that - I look forward to seeing it in our lab, where I may be reconvinced... c -----Original Message----- From: sthaug@nethelp.no [mailto:sthaug@nethelp.no] Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 4:08 PM To: cmartin@gnilink.net Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: RE: Yankee Group declares core routing obsolete (was Re: Anybodyusing GBICs?)

Things are getting better, but "L3-switches" pale in comparison to today's high-end routers on almost all fronts. If you take GigE out of the equation, modern "L3 Switches" are just as expensive as modern "core routers" - and routable, "mpls-able" L3 GE ports are _more_ expensive on "switches" than "routers" (see 4xGE OSM vs 4xGE GSR 'tetra' pricing).

In *my* Cisco GPL, 4GE-SFP-LC is listed at $75,000 while OSM-2+4GE-WAN+ is listed at $44,000. But then I tend to think of the 6500/7600 as a router... Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no