Opinions on Switches -

[P8riot]

I thought I'd throw this out there and see what we come up with.

I am looking for recommendations for a compact switch that as many as three could be installed into a Vista Column CP. We need 12-16 100Mb ports per switch (Gb would be a bonus). Managed or unmanaged, we aren't sure yet.

If the switch were to have Fiber LC connectors for uplink - another bonus.

If you remember my questions about raised flooring a long time ago - this is all related to that major project.

Any ideas?

[kin3]

Raised floors are good when you put the cooling into the floor and let it come up under the server racks. And no messy cabling.

[shakeyjake]

That column CP is pretty neat, I've never seen that before.

As far as compact goes, Cisco has this switch but it only has 8 copper ports. It does have an SFP port that you can put a 1000base LC SFP in. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/...315/index.html
It's not a bad little switch, we've use a few of them.
Most other switches are going to be 19" rackmount. Some of the cheaper manufacturers (Linksys, Netgear, Allied Telesys,etc) may have a compact switch as well.

What was the question on the raised floor? I might be able to help with that as I work for an Electrical/cabling/network integration contractor.

Edit: Cisco also has this switch that has 12 ports and is somewhat compact. It does not have Gigabit fiber capability however and as it's a hardened industrial switch, it probably uses DC power. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6738/index.html

[P8riot]

The project is a high school of 2500+ students and a 1:1 computing ratio. The raised floor is low profile, 4" or less, strictly to provide access for data and electric. We've checked out Steelcase, Tate, and Flexfloor. I like the Flexfloor the best but it will probably be Tate that the architects pick. We are spec'ing a class 1 single mode backbone to each building distro location from the campus distro and 50mic multimode from building distro to each classroom where we will probably use the Vista CP to break it out to copper for each workstation - that magic minimum of 12 ports per switch comes in to play there because we can flex from 24 to 48 available ports per CP with the space available in the Vista CP.

Those Wiremold Vista Columns are GREAT.. we got our sample today and we are going to start prototyping next month, they are VERY well made - heavy hinges, good locks, very flexible. Once we settle on a basis of design, wiremold is going to build out the columns to hold the switches, intercom, master clock (Primex), and telecom for us. The school will be able to dismount the column, pull the floor panel and the ceiling tile, move it where they want and reconnect everything - theoretically in less than an hour each.

I forgot about Allied Telesyn, they make pretty good stuff.. I'll check that out. I looked at the Cisco industrial.. considered it, but just too much.. even if it isn't DC.

Thanks! Keep the ideas coming!