Cisco has been plagued by long product lead times for the past few quarters. Some products took several months to deliver.
But in its Q3 earnings call earlier this week, Cisco said it expects product lead times to return to normal in its fiscal fourth quarter after seeing "major" improvements to most affected products in the third. Still, that did not stop the secondary market from providing a detailed list this week on current or previous generation product alternative to those still facing lone lead times.
Network Hardware Resale, an independent reseller of used Cisco gear, unveiled its Top Five Replacements for Cisco products still facing the lead time entanglement. The Fab Five are available for immediate delivery, the reseller adds.
They, and the products they replace, are:
- Cisco's Catalyst 2950G-48-EI, replacing the Catalyst 2960G-48TC-L Fast Ethernet Switch: The 2950G is the predecessor to the 2960G yet has the same features and capabilities, NHR claims. It can be purchased on the secondary market for up to 90% off the price of the newer 2960G. Also, used 2960G models are readily available on the secondary market, the reseller reports;
- Cisco's 7204VXR router for the 3845 Integrated Services Router + NM-1T3/E3: The 7204VXR is ancient yet delivers comparable performance to the 3845, NHR says. It, too, can be had for up to 90% less than the cost of a new 3845. Plus, the 7204VXR has "greater modularity and configuration flexibility" than the 3845, the reseller states;
- A previous generation 3745 ISR for the 3825 ISR: Again, it performs "similarly" to the 3825 for "most applications," NHR says. The 3745 accepts cards from the 3825 and can be purchased for more than half the cost of "the latest generation gear," the reseller says. Does that mean greater than 50% of the price, or less than 50% of the price? One caveat: the 3745 has reached end-of-sale status, but NHR says Cisco should still support it for another five years. If not, the secondary market offers alternative maintenance options.
- Cisco's Catalyst 2970G-24T-E or 2970G-24TS-E switch for the Catalyst 2960G-24TC-L Gigabit Ethernet Switch:This is a "highly viable substitution" for the newer 2960 series, which NHR says has been plagued by delivery lead times of 11 weeks or more. Performance is comparable, but the biggest difference between the two Catalyst switches is how the ports are configured, NHR notes:
With the latest generation equipment, the 24-port configuration includes 20 gigabit ports plus four shared ports for fiber optic or 10/100 configurations. The previous-generation 2970, however, provides 24 gigabit ports plus an additional four fiber optic slots for a total of 28 ports, which provides increased connectivity options for up to 84 percent less than its successor.
- Cisco's 7960G IP Phones for the 7962G IP Phones; and the 7940G IP Phones for Cisco's 7942G IP Phones: The only difference between the older and newer models, according to NHR, is the screen resolution, which is improved on the latest-generation equipment. But the 7960 and 7940 are priced at half their newer counterparts, and even used versions of the newer models can be found on the secondary market at discounted prices, the reseller states.
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