Question : 48 Port or 24 Port Switch for Small size office...

Which Switch is preferred for a new office with 15 employees intially which would grow up to 50 - 60 employees in next two years?  I am thinking to go for 2nos. of 24 port switch rather than 1no. 48 port.  The reason being if one Switch goes wrong or repaired, then the whole office work wont get disturbed.  Please comment....

Also how we make sure that quality of the Cable is good or best and also we are planning to give the cabling work to some third party....what are all the things to be noted down and instructions to the cabling contractor in order to have a good cabling?  We opt to go for Cat5E cabling...

Many thanks in advance
Thiru

Answer : 48 Port or 24 Port Switch for Small size office...

If you use two stackable 24 port switches you have the best of both worlds. Behaves like one switch for management and if one fails you still have 24 working ports. Adding a third switch to the stack in the future will be trivial. Costs a bit more of course because of the added functionality. Look at the 3570 series if your policy is for Cisco.
http://cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/index.html