Seems there are 2 fundamental factors here:
1) ZRH ATC totally screwed up by not giving DHL avioding action, regardless of equipment or number of controllers;
2) 154's apparent failure to respond to radio or TCAS. This leads to the question of whether they had an avionics or electrical problem (even a coffee spilt on the pedestal could cause this). The lack of response could very concievably have been out of their control and the press and Swiss blaming the Russian crew is at the least premature.
ZRH's statement that they leave separation to the last minute is not comforting. As for RVSM, I can't see a problem - they were at the same level, not 1000' apart.
TCAS is a great piece of kit which I understood to be mandatory for ops in JAA airspace. It also takes precedence over any other instructions from ATC or GPWS so it's unlikely that confusion existed over which to follow.
As for the comments about 'too many gizmos' and 'use the Mk1 eyeball' , it's immpossible to tell visually if you're at different levels until you're almost on top of each other when at altitude, and what about when you're in cloud?
Unfortunately the growth of aviation means a greater reliance on fall backs such as TCAS, and like any system it's not 100% reliable. I fly brand new US aircraft and TCAS is intermittent on a couple of them, particularly at lower levels, as the antennas are often poorly sealed and water fouls up the signal.