Bradley is impressed with the specifications of the new Integrated Services Router (ISR), but "it will be a while before I buy it", because "it's just outside of our stream at this stage".

Bradley believes Cisco's end-of-life strategy is pushing everyone into the upper end of the market and because IT doesn't have the "budgetary expanse", it's hard to keep up with the networking giant.

"Buy the lower-end stuff if you only want to do the basics," he said. "If you want to do the smarts, which most people want to do, you have to go with enterprise or better."

With a refresh rate of about 100 routers a year, Bradley said the council will "definitely have to look at competitors in that space" to ensure it is getting the best value for money.

"By the time the end of support dates arrive, hopefully we will have most refreshed," he said.