We had about six different companies that we were testing, including Moxa, Cisco, RUGGEDCOM, and EtherWAN switches.

We tested them in traffic signal cabinets. They were not directly exposed to the weather, but they did get hot and cold. The OmniSwitches were very ruggedized and never had any issues with the heat, especially given that we get triple-digit temperatures here in the Central Valley of California.

Alcatel-Lucent had one of the better customer service departments, in terms of responding in a timely manner and quickly getting done the things we needed done. Their switches were pretty comparable to the rest of the products when it comes to functionality, size, and capabilities. They were all pretty similar, but Alcatel-Lucent's customer service stood out and their software was one of the better, user-friendly solutions, for people who are not used to doing internet technology based work.

Currently we do not have any OmniSwitches in use. The city decided to use a different software and brand of switch. We did use them for six months. Our internal city system is already Cisco, so the IT director and the public works director decided to keep the city system with one company.

I also evaluated HP and Cisco, but they required higher licensing and maintenance costs.

I don't believe the company evaluated other products before choosing their current solution.