Network Switches for Medicines Discovery Catapult

MDC required network switches for its main office location as the current switch software goes end of life in December 2025. The current switches are a combination of Mellanox SN2410 (25Gbps/100Gbps) and EdgeCore 4610 and 5812 (1G and 10G respectively) running Cumulus Linux.

The SN2410 switches are the Core switches, also servicing servers and storage. The 4610 and 5812 switches are Edge switches servicing clients.

These were to include

• 2x Core switches for the network and servers
• 2x 10Gbps Edge switches
• 8x 1Gbps Edge switches
• Any required optics for connections to ISPs and interconnections between switches
• All required licenses and warranties for a minimum of 3 years.

The switches proposed by suppliers must have been from a manufacturer included as 'Leaders' in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN 2024 - ie. Juniper, HPE Aruba, Extreme, Fortinet, or Cisco.