Core Switch - Juniper EX9204 vs Aruba 5406R zl2

I'm in a pickle on some decisions I have to make at one of our sites, and I'm hoping one of you smart network engineers out there will be able to gleam some of your experience off here. The main decision point I'm wrestling over is basically what brand of core switch to implement. We're currently standardized on HPE/Aruba, but I've fallen in love with Juniper's offering on this solution. Problem is, I get eye rolls and grumbling when I mention this to my co-workers who are more comfortable on the HPE/Aruba gear. I do plan to stay with HPE/Aruba for the distribution and access layers and FortiGate as the firewall. Mainly, here's why I'm leaning toward Juniper for the core switch.

1. I've never heard of someone running HPE/Aruba on the core of their network. I think HPE/Aruba are great access layer switches, but I just can't bring myself to trust them at the core. I've read true core switches have deeper packet buffers than access switches although I haven't found the documentation that enumerates this on Juniper. The Aruba 5406R zl2 mentions a 13.5Mb packet buffer in their datasheet. http://ift.tt/2zXUAQr

2. More redundancy in one chassis. None of our ISPs at this site are able to give us an LACP handoff so my personal opinion is that a virtual chassis setup with two hardware switches would be less than useful. You could make the argument that having that second port pre-configured for a manual fail over might be of use, but since I'd be trying to assist the on-site techs with this remotely in that scenario...I'd rather not. Knowing that, I'd like to get as much redundancy as I can out of this setup, and the EX9204 looks to have more to offer here. Holds up to four power supplies, support for a backup routing engine and switch fabric module since control and forwarding planes are separate, etc. The 5406R datasheet does mention support for a redundant management module that handles nonstop switching and routing, but I'm not sure how equally these compare.

And, of course, the reasons why I'm resistant...

1. Price. This is just straight off CDW's website, but the EX9204-REDUND-AC build-out with a 32-port 10Gb line card and a 40-port 1Gb line card runs close to $70,000...whereas to get a similar setup on a 5406R would be closer to $20,000. I have not formally priced these though, and I've heard Juniper will compete fairly well if you competitively bid them.

2. Familiarity. I haven't not been on a Juniper box before, but learning new CLIs doesn't scare me too much. Still, the learning curve is there, and I'm afraid my co-workers would never touch it so I'd be the only person supporting it.

Design reference: http://ift.tt/2zD9oU4

And the Juniper EX9204 datasheet: http://ift.tt/2zXUBDZ