Vendor comparison is a vital early stage element of network design. Most network vendors can deliver a set of core functions, usually based upon RFCs and IEEE standards. That’s not the whole story, though. Vendors add functions additional to the standards, for two reasons:
- To deliver advanced functionality not available using the standards alone;
- To ensure “vendor lock-in” because the essential functionality is only available with non-standard extensions.
The Vendor selection process must engage closely with your Requirements Specification: If all requirements are generic, then vendor selection is simplified, but where a business has particular needs (who doesn't?), it is not simply good enough to pick a vendor from Gartner’s Golden Quadrant (useful though that information undoubtedly is).
When the business-driven requirements demand more than a “vanilla” solution, it’s important to evaluate the likely players thoroughly. This can range from a paper exercise, comparing specifications and capabilities between vendors, through vendor meetings to confirm expectations, and, in many cases to Proof-of-Concept trials to ensure the product delivers the requirements.
NetUnity is ideally positioned to help. With experience spanning over 20 years of independent selection across all the major vendors, we can perform your Vendor Comparison exercise, and ensure that the vendor you team with will deliver to your requirements exactly: this task needs precision, detail and accuracy that NetUnity can provide.