100mbps line installed, need to upgrade network kit or not??

Guys,

We're planning to install a 100mbps uncontended line in the office soon. We currently have 20 machines and plan to extend to 30 or so soon.
I was wondering whether we would need to replace our current kit (Cat5 wires, 100mbps switches etc, 10/100mbps NICs) with GbE models.
Would the additional expense be justified? Oh, and I hope that I posted to the right forum

Thanks!

If you know enough to order a line you ought to know the answers!

line was not ordered by me actually but by the MD. My hunch is that the line will never reach 100mbps and that we will not need to upgrade our gears. But then, GbE might be useful for intra-file transfers (servers to clients).

What are the 50? PCs used for? Why do you need a 100M link?

Office usage. No Critical App. My MD thinks that he needs it to surf the net faster... 8-)

What is the current link? What's the performance like at quiet and busy times?

In reply to a post by siliconbits:

Guys,

We're planning to install a 100mbps uncontended line in the office soon. We currently have 20 machines and plan to extend to 30 or so soon.
I was wondering whether we would need to replace our current kit (Cat5 wires, 100mbps switches etc, 10/100mbps NICs) with GbE models.
Would the additional expense be justified? Oh, and I hope that I posted to the right forum

Thanks!

I'm not sure how your network is setup. But if you have any bottlenecks - such as one cat5 cable serving a second batch of switches would be for instance a bottle neck and upgraded that to GbE would be justified.

Again if a group of computers are quite demanding on transfers again upgrade those. Any inhouse servers I would suggest upgrading to a single or dual GbE.

Because we don't have enough ports on the wall, we have to resort to using switches on clusters of desks. To make things slightly more complicated, I've been instructed to move our separated VOIP broadband line to that single line.

If they are providing 100M - I assume it'll be on a Gig port? If so, might be a good idea to have at least a switch with Gig uplinks and then 100M ports to the office.

Matt

In reply to a post by siliconbits:

Because we don't have enough ports on the wall, we have to resort to using switches on clusters of desks. To make things slightly more complicated, I've been instructed to move our separated VOIP broadband line to that single line.

Idea situation would be then to go with a managed 48port switch with QoS (for voip)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Zyxel-ES-3148-48-port...

If Zyxel isn't your cup of tea look at netgear or cisco(deep pockets for that).

If that is out side your budget look at a 16 or 24 port GbE rackmoutable switch and look at 5x GbE switches, that may turn out cheaper overall when taking in downtime of crossover.