I have a small client that needs some switches and I'm looking at the new Cisco CBS350 series switches which came out just a few months ago. These are the replacement for the older SG350 series.
I am very leery of buying anything Cisco given Meraki and Cisco's new "Smart" licensing where you must pay for support in perpetuity (or until Cisco EoL's the model) or else the switch basically stops working or otherwise degrades it's feature set.
It's not appropriate for me to sell this client into something that they have to rent but can never own.
Thus I'm looking at the Cisco CBS 350 series and while the FAQ for these mentions that they don't require a support contract to continue working, it does mention a "Lifecycle management" feature that "Provides detailed lifecycle information about your network devices—including maintenance and warranty status and end-of-life bulletins."
It is reasonable and prudent to assume the worst, or at least be skeptical. Could this be a feature which nags and annoys the user when the device goes EoS/EoL? What exactly does this mean? No doubt it's nothing good, but I'd like to know exactly what Cisco is doing here.
Does anyone have these switches yet and can you offer any insight into what Cisco's "Lifecycle management" features are here?
Thanks
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