Cisco as Big Brother (Was Re: Cisco's AIP vs HSSI)

Wed Oct 16 11:33:42 UTC 1996

On Tue, 15 Oct 1996 21:54:11 +0100 (BST), peter at wonderland.org writes:
>
>> >    since as Dave
>> >    O'Leary has told me for a long time "Sooner or later everyone ends
>> >    up working for cisco" and he seems to be right.
>> 
>>   Or maybe, everyone stops at cisco sometime in their career.
>> 
>>   Although, I know lots of smart smart smart people who haven't.
>>   One of them is looking for a job, and he's not looking at cisco.
>>   (not me...)
>
>And since we have *never* had a Cisco in our own network, as the
>largest dialup IP provider in the UK if not Europe (as a single
>company), we have gone from not seeing the need to not seeing the
>point or buying and Cisco gear. It's like IBM was in the 60s/70s.
>"No one ever got fired for buying Cisco." Sheesh.

The salespeople in the UK are using that tactic too?  If a sales rep 
EVER walked into my office and fed me a line like that, I would end the
meeting right there.  As it is, I refuse to do business with Cisco not
because of their products, but because of their marketing department
and their corporate attitude of "We're the best, nobody can touch us,
and if you want to buy our product you better bend over backwards to do
what we want you to do."  That was their attitude three years ago when
our company was just getting started, and I haven't noticed it change
much today.

As for competition, keep an eye on Bay.  They are putting some serious
effort into Internet development.  The hardware is already there, and has
been there for a long time.  The software is getting there very quickly,
especially with companies like mine and ANS working with them.  I have
a feeling Cisco will always be in the lead, but they may not have such
a comfortable lead for much longer.  Which is a Good Thing, since
competition fuels development.

-Jon

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