Adtran

[adiz]

I am writing this thread just to hopefully help save people some money. I would like to take this time to let everyone know that I am not employed or associated with the following company in any way.

With that outa the way, I wanted to let you guys in on ADTRAN. I am not sure how many people have heard about ADTRAN but I would like to let you guys know about them. They are a company much like cisco they deal with routers switches and so forth. Their units and software is setup somewhat like ciscos but here is the best part of ADTRAN....They are cheaper! Going with them could save you hundreds of dollars. I have a Frame Relay router and I like it.

Downsides: I am not sure of the technical support. But I wouldn't know about Cisco's either.

ADTRAN is basically like a generic Cisco.

Here is their site - Adtran's Site

Thanks,
Adiz

[disc0rd]

The one thing i failed to understand until I started doing computers and networks professionally, was "Why don't companies go with the cheaper alternative?" Now, being a netadmin with a large company, I come to understand why....support support support. Cisco may be expensive, but the support is second to none, and theres no lack of resources on the net, or anywhere on how to troubleshoot....You will always find someone that knows cisco router specifics...

Not trashing on adtran at all, from what I see their product looks pretty straight, but companies and users that want second to none support, and a good product might find that spending the money may be the best course of action... (although this isn't always the case, look at Opensource products compared to Microsoft...)

[adiz]

Now, being a netadmin with a large company, I come to understand why....support support support.

disc0rd - I am in complete agreement with you. I agree that cisco has probably the best support out there. I am in complete agreement that everyone knows cisco. I am just trying to help those people out there who want something but don't wanna spend that 3,000 on it. But good post. Anti-point ^

[gunit0072003]

It is true that there are companies out there that make routers/switches equal to or even better than cisco,,,even cheaper than cisco..

But I can tell you from personal experience ADTRAN IS NOT ONE of THEM..........

They make the crappiest routers I ever worked with,,Their sales team came in to sell off their product during my last engagement and we practically threw them out...Unless you are a "pop and mom" shop, stay away from ADTRAN as a routing solution..

Another vendor I can think of that outperformes Cisco is Extreme networks....They are now I would say Cisco's biggest competition aside from Juniper who specializes in high end IP only routers.

However as disc0rd stated, Support is the biggest reason IT managers stay with Cisco as well as accountability....You want to stick with one vendor as your routing and switching solution so as to keep the vendors honest when problems arise,,,avoiding finger pointing among the different vendors...




Just my opinion.
Cheers

P.S
ADTRAN makes awsome DSU/CSUs...

[adiz]

Alright well, I just wrote this to help people on a budget.

Take it or leave it.

But let me say, I agree that Cisco is better but it cost almost 2 - 3 times as much.



Aight,
Adiz