> This has nothing to do with easy, it has to do with consolidating two, 
> three or four pieces of hardware into a single 2U chassis to save space. 
> Most L3 switches have but a subset of the functionality a stand-alone 
> router has...
>
> There is the same amount of knowledge and understanding of the 
> protocols/stack, and the same number of keystrokes required to configure 
> these devices as there is to configure three separate pieces of hardware 
> to perform the same functions ;)

Yah, but you don't have the "fun" of dealing with 2 miles of cable in one 
rack.  haha