My office is looking to replace the all the edge switches, and we're wondering what to go with. My previous employer was a Cisco shop edge to core and beyond, and while I've never had a problem with their switches, I've also never had a problem with the dell layer 2 switches that cost thousands less. We're looking for 192-300 gigabit ports, and an additional 48 ports of PoE. Dell 48's go for $500 and the PoE would be $900. Cisco 2960's look to be about 3.5k each.

Support for spanning tree protocol is why we're upgrading. Layer 3 routing isn't necessary. Cost isn't actually a big concern if there's a case for spending more money for features we'd use or actual higher quality. Any recommendations?

Matthew