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For as long as I've been testing boxes, vendors have been telling me that I need to consider all the elements that constitute the "end-to-end solution"
Now that I've launched a major research project on campus quality-of-- service (QoS) products, some vendors are steering me to evaluate just a single box. ("Don't look at our ABC1OO, the XYZ400 is the one to do the job.")Allow me to respond by offering my Weakest Link Theory of product testing.
Simply stated, my theory posits that the weakest link in an end-to-end package - such as that needed in QoS deserves special focus because it is the most likely to fail. An end-to-end QoS offering by definition includes not only powerful core switches, but also the humble edge switch. The capabilities of both need to be evaluated to consider the...