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Wow!  Great Donation!  I am curious to see how things work out.  Perhaps we'll take a look at Arista for use here in the future if Arista works well at MICE. 

I have a few questions, concerns, and suggestions for your proposal.

Questions:
How many 1G ports are on the Arista? 
Would we continue to use the original switch for 1G ports?
Do the existing switch and Arista support the same form-factor optics?  i.e.  Is there a requirement to purchase new optics to be connected to the new switch under your proposal?

Concerns:
I'm not a fan of requiring some members to pay and not others.  This proposal will create different "classes" of membership -- those who pay and those who don't (or choose not to).   MICE is a cooperative, not a charity.  Everybody gets value from MICE.  Everybody should pay a fair and equitable price.  The pricing structure you have proposed discourages growth and penalizes the large users (who presumably bring the most value to MICE).  They pay the freight for everybody else.  How is that fair?

Suggestions:

I'd like to see every member get the first year (or fraction of year depending upon when they start service) free.  This gives everybody a chance to try it and see if it makes sense for them.
Fees should be mandatory and should reflect the port size. 
The disconnect policy should be very reasonable (assuming that there are spare ports available) -- perhaps one year non-payment grace period before disconnect?

For example:
$35/Gbps/year for everybody.  First year (or fraction thereof free).

1Gbps=$35/Year
10Gbps=$350/Year
100Gbps=$3,500/Year

Billed annually on the calendar year.

Thoughts? Comments?


On 12/01/2016 09:39 AM, Jason Hanke wrote:
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All-

Our main switch is nearing the end of its lifespan and the available
port count is dwindling. At the current rate of burn we will be out of
ports in early-2017.

USI has arranged for Arista Networks to donate a 7504 switch with
32x100G and 96x10G ports with one year of support. In year 2, MICE
would be responsible for the ongoing support costs about 14k per year.
There would be one additional slot for future growth.

I would like to make a formal request for comment and add the
following item to the UG agenda.

Here's what I'd propose:
1G ports= Free (Only 1 port per member, NO LAG allowed)
Initial 10G port= $250 Annual
Each additional 10G port $1000 Annual per port (up to 8 member LAG allowed)
100G port $3000 Annual per port

Remote switch operators pay the fee for their main switch ports.
Remote switch participants do not pay a main switch port fee.

No grandfathering, all types of networks are treated the same.

We will not disconnect for non-payment until port run out and
contention occurs. A policy will need to be developed.

New ports billed at time of allocation.

Each carrier provides their own optic. Arista has agreed to remove the
vendor lockout for optics.

This will yield about $37k of annual revenue assuming everyone pays.
We don't disconnect for non-payment but members in good standing would
take priority over non-paying members. This would cover hardware
support and Arin fees and accounting expense with the remainder going
If we extended the full fees to all 10G ports this would generate $70k
annually. Looking out, I don't think we will need to raise that much
cash to keep operating as we are now.

Ongoing Expense looks something like this:

Arin: $300
Accounting: $1800 (includes postage for billing)
Hardware support: $15000

This financial projection assumes we add no additional ports than what
is currently allocated.

I'm seeking input/amendment from the membership prior to the board
taking action for the 2017 year.




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