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Acceptable arguments are:

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o Switches can handle more throughput

That's difficult to quantify in theory *or* practice.

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o Switched networks are easier for humans (or at least, humans without huge brians && many internal registers) to design/debug/maintain.

More levels of indirection does not mean it's easier for humans necessarily. In fact, there are many more nobs to miss, and more places for error to be introduced into your engineering model.

i would agree strongly. putting a bunch of switches between two routers makes troubleshooting that much more involved. if i can't get a packet from router A to router F (assuming B,C,D,and E are atm switches) where has the link broken down? you have to go to each switch and look at incoming/outgoing cells to see which is not sending or receiving. this scenario definately makes more work for the network operator doing the troubleshooting. it certainly doesn't make things *easier*. -brett