EXOS proof of Concept

[thalabi]

Hello Everyone,

Actually Im about to do a PoC to one of our Customers and i’m looking for ideas that can help me to do a successful POC for EXOS Switches, especially for end-users that has Cisco (Catalyst or Nexus) access switches in their network, i have searched already in Extreme Engage and here in the HUB Extreme Community but unfortunately i couldn't find anything, i have some ideas such (Stacking over Fiber connectivity, one line CLI....) but i believe still not enough, i feel i need more in order to let the customer get convinced and feel the difference comparing to Cisco, just to proof what EXOS has that Cisco Doesn't …

so If someone could share such experience or any suggestion/Ideas/Tips and I will be highly appreciated…

i hope your answers can help me out and everyone here as well 🙂 .…

Thanks in advance! 

[CThompsonEXOS]

Hi,

If you have a valid support contract on that device, I would call in to GTAC 😀.  From there, you can also ask how an escalation will go, which shows if you have support GTAC is one person throughout the whole process.

Also, I like leveraging how "flexible" things are:

 CloudiQ(Universal Hardware comes with a free 1 year license - if you don't like it, use it, renew it, you still have a fully functional switch you can manage locally.

Also, with the Universal Hardware you can boot in to two different operating systems, so as the network grows/changes, you can install a different OS without buying new hardware as your needs change.

Also, you./they can use free resources like our Github to learn, practice, etc:

GitHub - extremenetworks/Virtual_EXOS: EXOS VM images are provided for testing in virtual environmen...

Thanks,

Chris Thompson

[thalabi]

any suggestions or Idea that could help?

[Tomasz]

Hi,

Consider GTAC quality (some people have different experience but it somehow depends on case complexity and product family, I only had delays sometimes but if anything is urgent, phone call is an option).

Consider entire idea of zero-touch provisioning (EXOS + XMC), Extreme Policy (managed from XMC GUI, very edge layer security, possibly bound with Extreme Access Control as NAC). And telemetry for L7 visibility with ExtremeAnalytics.

Consider automation with Python and APIs.

Consider EXOS + VSP if not only access is considered for a change. SPB is a game changer for enterprise networks IMHO.

If they want to go hi-end, X4x5 can give you VM environment for some additional security/monitoring tools to be put on board. And bluetooth connectivity for management, yaay.

There are also some small nice features but it’s a side dish I think. Eventually added value will have to be more and more stressed as core functionality of all enterprise-grade switches is similar besides the above.

Hope that helps,

Tomasz

[Brian_Anderson1]

Price and support is what usually ex-cisco customers tell me was the decision that made them change.