Christine Austria and Curvature’s Networking Category Manager, Jesse Newton, continue to discuss the question – What is the difference between a fixed switch and a modular switch, and how to choose the right one for your business? – in our series Ask the Expert.
Christine: Hi, everyone! Welcome back to another episode of “Ask the Expert”. We’re joined again by Jesse Newton, Curvature’s Networking Category Manager, to continue our conversation on fixed and modular network switches and how to choose the right one for your project. Thanks for joining us again, Jesse!
Jesse: Thanks for having me back.
High-End vs. Low-End Modularity
Christine: Of course! As a recap from our last episode, you highlighted what fixed and modular switches are and their key differences. So, let’s get a little deeper. Could it be said that the higher end the products, the more modular options are available?
Jesse: Good question, Christine. Yes, in general, the lower end the device, the less modularity your options are going to get, and higher-end options will have more customization and modularity though that’s not always the case.
Christine: That makes sense. Could you give us an example of how this practically looks with switch projects our clients ask for?
Jesse: Yes, of course. So, the Cisco Catalyst 9000 series is our top selling product line and within the 9000 series, there are low, medium, and high-end options depending on what a client needs in their network. These options are designed to meet different requirements and are going to have varying degrees of modularity and performance.
The 9200 series is the lowest-end access level switch that you can buy in the 9000 series switch product catalog and the 9200 are also further broken into the 9200 and 9200L. For example, the 9200 has modular uplinks whereas the 9200L has fixed uplinks.
So. even within the same tier of a product line, you’re going to have some modularity options versus some fixed, and picking that device or that solution is going to be up to the client based on their needs and the requirements of their network.
Deciding Which Switch is Best for Your Network
Christine: So how do I know which one is better for my network?
Jesse: Well, it really depends on your network requirements. So, fixed switches are going to typically be best for network deployments where the scope and the needs are pretty fixed for the next three to five plus years, for example. The concern there is you may buy a device and it will not work for some future need in your network. If you buy a fixed device, there’s no option to upgrade it in the future, and you’re pretty much stuck with whatever you buy. A modular switch might be a good device for some projects where the requirements are a little bit unclear or there’s going to be some potential need in the future to upgrade, add performance, things like that. So, if there is any uncertainty around your needs in the future, modular switches might be your best solution.
How Curvature Can Help Navigate These Options
Christine: So how does Curvature help our clients navigate these options?
Jesse: Great question! Well, as the market leader in the networking space, our sales engineers have decades of experience configuring the best solution for our clients. Perhaps most importantly, we’re always working to identify the best deals in the market and that might be a modular or a fixed configuration device where the market is better for one type versus another. So, what ends up happening a lot of the time, is customers come to us asking for a particular device and we offer them something a little different, oftentimes even better. That gives them some more features or customization options than they even thought was possible, based on the way we run our business.
Christine: Thanks for your time and insights, Jesse, it’s been a pleasure having you. If you have any questions for one of our networking sales engineers, simply leave a comment below or contact us today and we’ll see you next time on “Ask the Expert”.
To get more in-depth information on fixed and modular switches, click here to read our tech guide or contact us today!
If you missed part 1 of our fixed and modular switches discussion, click here now.
