10GE router resource

Thu Mar 27 12:02:29 UTC 2008

At 04:33 AM 3/27/2008, Tore Anderson wrote:
> > Hands up those of you running Cat6500's in service provider
> > environments.
>
>*hand*
>
>Actually, not quite yet, but I'm considering purchasing a pair of
>Cat6500's (with Sup720 PFC3CXL) for a new colo I'm setting up, bundling
>them together with VSS.  They'll terminate a few transit links and links
>to other colos, in addition to functioning as distribution/access
>switches for the data center itself.
>
>Are you saying that there's something about the Cat6500's that makes
>them unsuitable for such usage?  I'd sure like to hear more about that
>before I go ahead and buy them, if so.

Cisco wants you to pay 4 times as much for the 7600 which is the same 
platform except the cards are vertical instead of horizontal. (If you 
have a NEBS chassis, then that's not even a differentiator.) Oh, 
there is also a ROM/PROM/Flash chip in the chassis which tells IOS 
that you are on a Catalyst and not a 7600 so the newer 7600 IOS code 
supposedly won't work. This is the "code split" which they did about 
a year? ago. The Catalyst works great as a core router, but Cisco 
says that's the job for a 7600, not a 6500. I don't know if there are 
any other differences, FlexWAN card support? But for most of us, the 
6500 works great and does everything we need. That's what the OP was 
referring to I believe.

-Robert

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