Networking: Best-of-Breed Vs. Single Vendor

Most IT infrastructure professionals have an opinion on whether it's better to implement and maintain a best-of-breed, multi-vendor network infrastructure  or to take a single vendor approach. While opinions are great, choosing the right solution for a particular environment is often far more complicated than many make it out to be.

In some areas of a network infrastructure, homogeneity is completely legitimate. There are plenty of cases where organizations require a more customized approach in order to squeeze as much value as possible out of an investment. Industry vertical, application type, employee access needs, support/maintenance competency, and data security impact networking requirements, and   network architects might want to customize their networks to better fit their particular environment.

Much of the decision-making process boils down to a few core questions. First, do you truly need a best-of-breed network from a security and functionality perspective or are you able to sacrifice a bit to lower complexity and cost? Second, are your network architects capable of designing a network that optimizes each and every component from multiple vendors to get the desired added-value in a reasonable amount of time? Third, is your IT network support staff capable of supporting a multi-vendor network? And finally, have IT decision makers formed a strong opinion on potential risks of vendor lock-in?

We're going to look at eight different reasons why you would want to choose best-of-breed components over a single-vendor solution or vice versa. Our goal is to help you fully understand the benefits of both so you can better make the right decision for your specific organization.

(Image: catherine_jones/iStockphoto)

Learn best practices and strategies for building and managing an enterprise network in the Networking Track at Interop Las Vegas this spring. Don't miss out! Register now for Interop, May 2-6, and receive $200 off.