NetAdmin + sales on NANOG like places.

Gerald gcoon at inch.com
Wed Mar 17 19:22:25 UTC 2004


On Wed, 17 Mar 2004, Jonathan M. Slivko wrote:

<SNIP INTRO & SALES BLURB>

> I look forward to talking to you soon.

> Jonathan M. Slivko             jslivko at invisiblehand.net
> Sales/Network Operations       Invisible Hand Networks, Inc.

I am currently doing a little of both sales/network admin at my company
which competes directly with Jonathan's in the NYC market. I have some ?s
about (network admins + sales people) for nanog folk:

- As much as I sympathize with JS's desire to get his company name
and information out, is this kind of E-mail encouraged/discouraged on
NANOG? (AUP: "Blatant product marketing is unacceptable." Does this fit?)

- Are more of the current network/system admins being asked to leverage
otherwise non-business relationships (like NANOG) to increase sales?

My initial reaction to his E-mail was sympathy for the effort, but I'm
curious if other netadmins are being handed a sales hat. I don't
mean the people who switched to the sales team totally.

- Do you still maintain your network equipment and now have the
responsibility to bring in new business for your company? (This assumes
the company is/was large enough to not need you to do both.)

- Where do we draw the line on NANOG discussions about steering a
conversation that hits close enough to your business to allow this?

I know from some of my previous posts there are a lot of marketing/sales
types subscribed to NANOG that can/will/ and do jump at an opportunity to
sell their product. I also know that sometimes we ask for that ourselves
like Paul's question about 1U that he is summarizing off list so there is
a place for these people to participate.

Will there soon be a place for North American Sales And Network Operators
Group NASA-NOG mailing list more focused on putting the techs in touch
with the sales guys?

Would NANOG as a group agree (I know...you can laugh now.) that requests
made here for suggestions are more often looking for technical people that
have purchased from a company than a slightly biased sales pitch from the
company you work for?

I'm not an anti-capitalist, but I do like to attempt to keep the SNR down
and if companies force sales hats to the networking staff this will become
much more prevalent. Jonathan this isn't intended to offend you either, so
I hope you don't take it that way.

SpamAssassin in place and filters setup so I can handle the replies for
anyone who wants to respond off the list.

Gerald Coon
Network Administrator
(Who also wears a sales hat at times for the same company)
Internet Channel



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