[Pc_Support] RE: Suggestions for how to manage satellite offices?-- NetGear FVS124G/FVX538?

[Bryan J. Smith <b.j.smith at ieee.org>]

From: Damien McKenna <dmckenna at thelimucompany.com>
> I've already installed Firefox on all the workstations,

Cool.

> I'm not sure on OOo for them just yet.

As I said in the other thread, a switch to OOo should mean a switch of
the underlying, default format (only using import/export as necessary).
If a company is not ready to switch, then they should stick with MS Word.

> I had originally mentioned Cisco PIX firewalls to the owner and he
> seemed ok with the idea of spending that much, so $350 should be
> fine.

Cisco has solid solutions, but they are often costly.  They bought
Linksys to compete with DLink, Netgear and others.  Netgear has
continued to impress me with leading-edge solutions at commodity
prices -- including managed switches and feature-rich stateful
firewalls/VPNs.

Cisco, Nortel, etc... are still the ideal solution when you have a
large network you need to manage.  But Bay did an excellent job
in founding NetGear in the mid-'90s to address the rather large
segment of SMBs that only needed a few backbone devices in
only one or a handful of locations.

> Alrighty, I'm sold.

Just FYI, in the $500-5,000 space, Watchguard (Linux) and
SonicWall (VxWorks) have traditionally been the SMB solutions
deployed.

But NetGear continues to lead the sub-$500 or sub-$1,000 space
with a few others -- hence Cisco's acquisition then.

I need to see what the Cisco-Linksys front is doing.  I know they
have incorporated the IXP products, but I just haven't heard many
people attest to them.

> That'll be part of the document I give them.

Well, I'd do a search of anything that uses the IXP and see what's
out there.  They're _might_ be a better solution.  I just haven't
had the chance to research much.

And several people seem to like those NetGear solutions.


--
Bryan J. Smith   mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org