>From my experience, you just have to keep beating up Cisco. Every time they say "we can't do lower pricing", don't believe them. They absolutely can do lower pricing. Also make sure you indicate that changing vendors will mean your following suit with the rest of the hardware when it comes EOL. That should make them dig out some deeper discounts. If they are unwilling to come down in price to be more competitive, maybe it's a good time to start moving on to other vendors.
Take a look at Extreme Networks. They have some great products and usually beat the pants off of Cisco when it comes to pricing (especially wireless). *--Jeremy L. Gibbs* Sr. Network Engineer Utica College IITS T: (315) 223-2383 F: (315) 792-3814 E: [email protected] http://www.utica.edu On Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 4:25 AM, Oliver Elliott < [email protected]> wrote: > Jeff > > How did you achieve that discount, was it a significant bulk order? We > tend to buy large amounts of switches and APs separately, if we can save a > lot of money buying them together that would be nice! > > Oli > > On 15 October 2015 at 19:15, Jeffrey D. Sessler <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> I think it's always wise to look at other vendors when you're about to >> replace that amount of equipment, but unless you are unhappy, it's unlikely >> that the alternative will come out less expensive i.e. hardware purchase, >> plus learning/supporting another vendor. >> >> If you're happy, work with your incumbent vendor to see what they'll do >> to keep you in the family. >> >> For Cisco, right now there is a deal where you can get substantial >> additional discounts on wireless if it's paired with switching (which also >> gets extra discounts), and these stack on top of the discount you get >> normally. Let's just say that 70%-ish off is not difficult. I took >> advantage of the discount last year and the cost for a 3702i was pretty >> amazing. >> >> Jeff >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto: >> [email protected]] On Behalf Of Oliver, Jeff >> Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 9:42 AM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Multi Vendor environments in WiFi space >> >> All, >> >> This is probably an old topic, but I have not seen anything in a while on >> it. >> >> At present we are a Cisco shop with regard to our wireless deployment, >> and we are looking at changing out a substantial number (250) of our AP's >> (1131 to 3702). These AP's represent about 30% of our deployment so is a >> substantial investment, and as such our CIO has asked us to look at other >> solutions. >> >> I am wondering if any of you are running multi vendor environments and if >> so, what the UX is like? What are the toolsets like regarding management of >> two disparate systems? >> >> >> >> Cheers, >> Jeff >> >> --- >> >> Jeffrey L. Oliver >> Sr. Network Analyst >> Information Technology Services >> The University of Lethbridge >> 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta, T1K 3M4 >> >> Tel: 403.329.5162 >> Mob: 403.315.4461 >> Fax: 403.382.7108 >> >> URI: [email protected] >> >> ********** >> Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent >> Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. >> >> >> ********** >> Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent >> Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. >> >> > > > -- > Oliver Elliott > Senior Network Specialist > IT Services > University of Bristol > e: [email protected] > t: 0117 39 (41131) > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
