Alternative to 3Com 4200

Greetings!

We currently have a couple 3Com 4200 "Super Stack" Switches (Product # 3C17304 for details see: http://www.3com.com/products/en_US [...] BNC4200SYS ).

They each have:
24 auto-negotiating 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX ports configured as
auto-MDI/MDIX
2 auto-negotiating 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BASE-T ports
configured as auto MDI/MDIX
2 Gigabit SFP ports (Fiber Optic)

We suspect one of them has developed problems, most likely with it's 1000BASE-T ports, so we're looking to replace it. The person who bought and has been administering them for several years has not been impressed, so we're inclined to try a different brand for the replacement(s).

There are 4 main servers with 2 NICs each (1 fileserver, 1 mailserver/gateway, and 2 Application Servers) that should have gigabit connections to each other on at least 1 NIC each. That segment of the network also has about 10 client machines and several network printers plus fiber optic links to several other buildings with another couple dozen clients that connect to the servers.

I'm debating whether to get a 24 or perhaps 48 port switch that is all gigabit, or settle for fewer gigabit ports, possibly using a smaller 4-8 port gigabit switch just for the servers.

We don't currently use many of the management features of the 3Com, but might consider it in the future (especially if not to expensive). We do like having an IP address assigned to the switch with the ability to check the basic status. I sometimes prefer a telnet interface to web only, but it's not a deal breaker.

We don't currently do any VOIP, but I'm considering creating a proposal to do so as we've had some trouble with our internal phone system.

Any advice on architecture and/or brands / models?

Thanks much.

Bill in harbinIT