Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 12:41:04 -0400 From: dennis@etinc.com (Dennis) To: "Karl Denninger, MCSNet" <karl@mcs.com> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org, freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ISDN Compression Load on CPU Message-ID: <199605241641.MAA01213@etinc.com>
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Karl writes.. >I see the market as basically having three components from an ISP >perspective: >1) The end-attachment market (your customers). These folks want > simple, simple, simple. Active routing is not required for 99% of > these people. The ASCEND P130 is a great box for this application, > and you will NOT beat it with a PC-style router. You just won't. your wrong here. First of all, for frame relay I will beat them easily. Plus most end users also need a host for their pages, mail and DNS, and the PC router gives them both the host and the router in a footprint less than the host/ascend solution without the unnecessary ethernet hop, which means better performance with any speed line. > >2) The ISP side of those links. The key here is density, density, > density and more density. At least if you intend to grow. > The PC solution is ok for *limited* areas of this application. unless your talking frame relay, in which case we give them equal density and higher performance with the same or superior features than Ascend or Cisco. > >3) Backbone hardware. Here there is no question - CISCO is the market > leader, like it or not. This is where you need things like *known > good* OSPF capability, IS-IS, BGP4, etc. I have tried to set up > BGP4 peering with a PC running gated before; it was a serious pain > in the ass finding on their end finding out why we weren't getting > correct announcements. With a CISCO its a 30-second exercise for > most common configurations. for you, but ive heard some horror stories as well. Most people i know that know BGP say its about the same effort once you learn Gated...you have to learn Cisco commands too...i regularly have to tell my customer's ISPs what to type in to configure their boxes for standard things. > >Now let's talk about support. You claim you provide "full WAN support". >4-hour on-site hardware replacement if necessary? Instant, >talk-to-an-engineer *NOW* support for software and hardware issues, 24x7? >I get that with CISCO products, and in the backbone area, this is CRITICAL. Any you pay for it too....lets not forget that. I have a Cisco, and the typical net support contract (@300. a year) isnt as good as you say if you have a non-typical question. I asked them how to bring a PPP line down gracefully and it took them a day to tell me that you can't. dennis ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emerging Technologies, Inc. http://www.etinc.com Synchronous Communications Cards and Routers For Discriminating Tastes. 56k to T1 and beyond. Frame Relay, PPP, HDLC, and X.25 for BSD/OS, FreeBSD and LINUX
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