The New Summit 400-48t

If you did not already know, our core network infrastructure is all Extreme equipment. We have recently been looking at upgrading some of our infrastructure and discovered this new switch from Extreme called the Summit 400-48t. It has a very high port density with 48 gig ports in just a 1U footprint, and a very large packet throughput. Looks like a great little switch and I hope to have my hands on one soon. Here are some of the other features:

Summit 400 Benefits

· Industry’s highest density Gigabit Ethernet for easy scalability and efficient use of rack space

· Highest performance switch fabric (160 Gbps) and throughput (101Mpps) so current and future applications have the bandwidth required

· Two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports to avoid the common uplink bottleneck

· Modular 10 Gigabit Ethernet design that can be quickly upgraded in the field so you only pay for the bandwidth you need, when you need it Advanced Layer 3 intelligence to roll out new

· Advanced Layer 3 intelligence to roll out new services quickly and easily;

· Comprehensive security services to protect your network where it's being attacked–at the edge

· 8 queues of QoS on every port to optimize application performance in a converged network

· Redundant hardware and special availability software ensure the highest level of network availability

Another Clerical Error

I would love to hear if it has been anyone else’s experience that when it comes to price negotiation with vendors and the church people in sales are just as deceitful and sometimes even more with the church. I can’t tell you how many times that a new vendor has tried to gouge the church on pricing. It seems that when they find out we are a church they see this mirage of a sucker form in place of my head and they jack up the price. When called on it, almost every time they say it was some type of clerical error or something to that affect.

Has the fear of God completely escaped our culture? My conscience, Christian or not, would never allow me to take advantage of a church this way. Just the fear of the wrath of God from trying to take advantage or manipulate a church for my gain would make my knees shake.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to paying top dollar for good technology if it is something we need. And I of course want the company to be successful and to be able to make a profit. Just don’t flippin’ come in here with sucker on your mind and treat the deal differently just for the fact that we are a church.

Man I need some chapstick, my lips hurt real bad!

Firefox is the way, the truth...

If you are not already using Firefox, maybe this will push you over the edge.

The Top 10 Features of Firefox

1o. Small download
9. Importation of all your IE settings
8. Pop-up blocking
7. No ActiveX controls
6. Plug-in architecture
5. Live bookmark
4. Integrated Web page search
3. Integrated Google search
2. Tabbed browsing
1. No IE Vulnerabilities

SAN Search Narrowed

Well the storage search continues. Some vendors have been eliminated, and some have been added. I am down to two potential SAN vendors and hope to have the choice made by the end of March. Both are IP SAN’s, and both are provide good solutions. Here are the two companies that are in the running:

LeftHand Networks

Equallogic