The first thing that comes to my mind is that in 5-8 years, as the State of west Virginia starts to run out of headroom in the larger locations, they can selectively upgrade that 5% or so that require something larger, while leaving the other 95% on the previous iteration.
Also - one thing I've learned about networking sites (real world experience, two companies that went from a dozen to 500+) is that once you are able to satisfy one person with sufficient pipe - that same bandwidth is usually sufficient for the 20-50 people. The reality is that need for bandwidth is very bursty.
And in 5-8 years, there will be more powerful equipment available at lower prices for that 5% of infrastructure. And you still have 1100 5-8 year old routers at all your locations that might not be capable of running whatever physical layer link we're using 5-8 years from now.
Future proofing is one thing. This is like buying a 747 for a route that serves a dozen passengers a flight to prepare them for the future.
> The first thing that comes to my mind is that in 5-8 years ... they can selectively upgrade that 5% or so that require something larger, while leaving the other 95% on the previous iteration.
In other words, they'll be in the exact same position that they were evidently trying to avoid from the start.
Also - one thing I've learned about networking sites (real world experience, two companies that went from a dozen to 500+) is that once you are able to satisfy one person with sufficient pipe - that same bandwidth is usually sufficient for the 20-50 people. The reality is that need for bandwidth is very bursty.