Can't you consider using Link Aggregation before making the leap to 10GE?

From serverfault jldupont

• Currently, our small business is using 1Gbit Ethernet. We are a very data intensive shop and are currently running into bandwidth limitations between our individual machines and our RAID-based server. We are maxing out at ~108 MB/sec, which I understand is the maximum bandwidth for 1Gbit Ethernet.

  Thus I am looking into whether it is possible for a small business to upgrade to a 10Gbit Ethernet. I was at the local hardware store and they don't sell 10Gbit Ethernet gear at all.

  I am currently thinking that maybe it is just prohibitively expensive to upgrade to 10Gbit Ethernet for the time being.

  Anyone have experience with rolling out a 10Gbit network using Ethernet or some other equivalent technology?

  Wesley 'Nonapeptide' : Awww Tim, how flattering. =)

  Adam Davis : Migration anomaly? Dupe of http://serverfault.com/questions/102342/does-it-make-sense-to-use-10gbit-ethernet-in-a-small-business

  mindless_developer_man : It may be related to the fact that this post was moved to serverfault before I had an account at serverfault. I just made an account here and only this post is associated with it, where as the other one isn't associated with my account. Thus I can only comment on this post and not the other.
  From mindless_developer_man

• Change your main switch and server to 10Gbit. The workstations can continue to run at 1Gbit, and the server will be able to handle 10 workstations at their maximum.

  Then measure the results and find out if you need to extend the 10Gbit to the workstations as well. I expect, for a small business, you won't need to, and this relatively small upgrade will increase overall network performance noticeably.

  From Adam Davis

• 10GE is still really expensive. I'd hold off for a year or so (at least) before making the jump.

  And, like jldupont said, link aggregation can do wonders.

  From Bill Weiss

• 10GbE NICs are quite cheap nowadays, switches however are not. Calculate like two grands for a NIC with optics and something like ten grands for a 16 port switch. And some grand for the cables.

  jae : Do you mean 2k per NIC? I wouldn't consider that cheap. Just sayin'...

  mindless_developer_man : I bought our 1gigabit ethernet NIC for $30/each and our 2 10 port 1gigabit switches for around $60 each. Thus $2000 per NIC and $10000 per switch is quite a bit more expensive -- almost 100x more expensive.

  James : You can get decent (Myrinet) 10 gig NICs for $600 USD, optics are $250 USD. If you use copper CX4 rather than optics then it's even cheaper - but yes, there is still a substantial premium over gigabit.

  pfo : CX4 NICs and GBICs are cheaper, yes -- but the CX4 cables are substantially more expensive then ye good ole' fiber.
  From pfo

• Check out the 10Gbps switches from Arista http://www.aristanetworks.com/ These are the same guys who originally designed the Cisco Catalyst series of switches.

  I was quoted under $20K for a 48 port model about 6 months ago. Not bad pricing compared to the competition and I have no doubts about their technical competence to build a great switch.

  They also have CAT5/6 models that can utilize your existing wiring although there are distance limits with copper wiring.

  Martijn Heemels : For a small business that's outrageously expensive.

  Ausmith1 : It all depends on your needs. If it's a small movie/video post production studio then 10Gbps will pay for itself in a matter of weeks. If it's a small architecture studio cranking out 2D drawings of office buildings on AutoCAD then 10GBps is a complete waste of money.

  chris : @Ausmith1: did you buy an arista switch? If so, how is it?

  Ausmith1 : Not yet, funding was spiked on the first go around. Maybe after Jan 1 2011...
  From Ausmith1