Hi all,
We are about to conduct a large installation, about 1000 cameras.
So far we were working with CISCO equipment (2960X for regular and 4500X for core switches).
However, we thought to look for an alternative, as CISCO are very expensive.
Are you familiar with good and reliable switches for CCTV installations?
Thanks, all.
I would generally recommend something with a pretty good reputation, with potentially worse factory support than Cisco; but high availability of partners and field support. HPE/Aruba would be at the top of that list for me (I work for a Platinum HPE Aruba dealer), followed by Fortinet, Brocade or Juniper (I dont sell Brocade or Juniper).
I am concerned for you that you're looking to change something mid-stream in a pretty large project. Its going to be imperative you find a good partner/dealer for whichever one you go with.
That is a pretty big single site installation. My sites are usually 300-600 cameras so YMMV. I have been pleased with HPe/Aruba so far with no issues pertaining to the switches in the past year and half since I started using them. The lifetime warranty and lower cost than Cisco are nice as well.
Avaya is another option that some large clients use. I have never used them myself but can say everything seems solid with their 4xxx series. Avaya appears very similar to Cisco in terms of CLI.
Just be careful with Avaya, they were bought out recently by Extreme Networks, and while I don't see that as a bad thing by any means, it could just mean that their knowledge base is in flux, as theyre probably looking at revamping/assimilating everything into an Extreme Networks platform.
I am very familiar with what happened in the transition and the engineering, sales and related staff all ended up at Extreme. There are rumors that they may use their own edge switching instead of the 4K, as they have added fabric to their existing edge but it's still not like the 4K. The technology is here to stay, it does solve a significant problem with multicast in general (ie, they don't use PIM and that's a great thing).
You may be interested in our integrator switch preferences.
Cisco has been losing ground in our surveys, while others like HP and Netgear remain about the same, and others come up, especially Ubiquiti, but also D-Link.
I have no experience using others in installations that big, so I can't comment as to reliability or ease of use.
Ubiquiti has been aggressively expanding into the enterprise space, though, with the UniFi line. It includes free controller software for network-wide monitoring and configuration, which may be useful at that size. And switches range in price from ~$200 for the 8-port PoE model to about $1000 for the 48 port max PoE model, and about $600 for their 16-port fiber aggregation switch.
Ubiquiti just announced the usg-xg-8 10G router - likely something you would want if you are considering the us-16-xg fiber aggregation switch. Deployed Ubi at the edge in front of (more expensive) meraki equipment.
For large camera installations, I select network switch vendors based upon if multicast support is required. Cisco might be expensive, but their enterprise class multicast support if very reliable. Their configuration and troubleshooting is well understood by most senior level network engineers. It's impossible to overstate the value of this simple fact during a complex video deployment.
Wasn't Cisco 2960x switch end of life last summer? If your client is government or education I would have them go direct and get Cisco at a heavy discount -- You are talking at least 20+ 48port switches to manage that many cameras - HP would be a slight step down in price but you really need to look at backplane and poe power needed -- I do like ubnt unifi switches and ui but for that many cameras I'm not sure I could pull the trigger even tho you're looking at a $40-50k discount in overall cost
2960S is the model that went EOL last year. 2960X is now the current series.
Use a switch that follows standards. Perhaps Brocade or Juniper. Don't use a switch that's a bastard stepchild of an access control company (are you listening Interlogix). I would avoid Avaya since they have some proprietary stuff. I would also avoid D-Link since they're always on the "we have an exploit" hit parade.
Use managed switches. Don't buy cheesy no-name unmanaged swill from those people manning the 10x10's at ASIS and ISC West. Make sure it does VLAN's, SNMP, PoE, stuff like that in a sane and mainstream manner.
Extreme used to be good. If there's an Extreme/Avaya switch mashup I'm not sure where that went. If it's towards the old Extreme tech that would be fine.
There are probably solid switches made offshore. Planet looks interesting. There are probably even solid switches made in mainland China. If you're not allergic to HIK check out their switches (which are in turn OEM'ed but there are likely thousands of managed switch vendors in China so by sheer numbers one or two might not suck.)
We've been using Dell since 2013. Few problems except for an initial configuration issue causing Multicast flooding.
You should look into Juniper they are a little bit cheaper but still enterprise class networks like Cisco. I use to run on the Dell switches and had nothing but problems with them.
Take a look at the Ruckus (ex Brocade) ICX 7150 series (edge) and 7450/7750 for core.. Great pricing vs Cisco and even quicker to program. We use them on large Genetec jobs with multicast routing etc, no sweat!
We use D-Link where I work. I guess Honeywell and D-link are in bed together or something, it was apparently their (Honeywell's) recommendation years ago. They seem fairly reliable, not usually a lot of issues.
About 900-1000 cameras per site, 2400 or so total across several sites. D-link handles the core for our fiber ring, and then all the camera stacks and everything.
Quick question, what FPS do you need(avg.)? Are you writing to any iSCSI storage? Is this mulit-site or one large facility, such as a prison? Are you archiving storage via the network to external storage? Is there any integrations for alarm links or SNMP traps? How many failures have you had on the Cisco? How many people within your company does it take to keep the Cisco, VMS and camera system functional? is this just a cost comparison or has a customer budget changed or are alternates being asked for? Do you need to multicast or is this centrally managed? Are you recording audio? Do you run any analytics processors on the same network or do you utilize a different lan?
Design is more than one component, I cannot teach you anything only inspire you to think.
I would consider Uptime, ease of replacement, switch firmware management and tftp backup process when I look for a competitor. Cisco is good, however there are a lot of alternatives.
I will be watching this thread, incoming SALES REPS!!
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