Calling all NANOG'ers - idea for national hardware price quote registry

Fri Sep 16 20:51:54 UTC 2005

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005, Matt Bazan wrote:

> Wouldn't it be great if there was an online, updated daily, website that
> listed real quotes oraganized by region in the country and company size?

Yes, it would be great, however it won't work.

> I think so.  Here's what I propose.  I will design and host a web site
> to organize just such info.  What I will need from all of you out there
> is your real time quotes (anonymously submitted is just fine, black out
> all the relevant personal/company info) and just include some general
> info on location (state for instance) and rough size of company.

I am sure that this will violate teh company-wide NDAs that are generally
signed when you enter into a business relationship with vendors.  Most
vendors of size require this type of agreement, although most engineers
are not privy to the agreement itself.

I forsee the following proplems:

1) Vendors do not want their pricing available for all (including
competitors) to see

2) Vendors would require that list prices be used

3) You would still need to go to the vendor to find out what level of
discount they are willing to give you, and then negociate the best
discount you want.

4) Different companies of similar size are able to negotiate different
levels of discounts, depending on the specifics of their relationship with
the vendor.  You're likely to get a better percent when you buy quantity
400 of "B"  router/switch/SAN than quantity 2.

5) Purchasing companies would be less likely to want to divulge this
information, as it could hurt their competitive advantage.  If they are
getting a 75% discount, and their closest competitor is only getting 50%,
they have a lot better advantage.

6) Such a list is likely actually cause companies to have to pay more.

That being said, I would personally LOVE to have the information.  I would
not be able to participate because of the NDA that we have signed, or risk
loosing my job.

 -Sean