[SunRescue] Cisco discussion Cont.

[Tim Hauber]

rescue at sunhelp.org writes:
>While I generally agree with you, do you really think this is the case
>with
>Cisco?  They aren't just competing with 3Com, Nortel, Lucent, etc anymore,
>but they're competing with CheckPoint and Firewall1. (hmm, are those
>products or companies?).  I just did a vendor demo on the PIX firewall
>today, and it's kinda cool, and likely to replace our current
>NT/Proxy-firewall.  But we also just purchased 2 3Com Super Stack II 3300
>switches, even though we knew that Cisco had similar products.  The 3Com
>buy
>was also just brand loyalty by the other admin, but there are too many
>players in this field to stifle innovation.
>	Greg
>

I wasn't really talking about the current market, but looking forward if
Cisco's marketing and educational attempts are successful.  Right now I
think the Tech people in most companies still pick network hardware, but
if Cisco manages to get the suits to think they are "IT" like Microsoft
has in many cases, then non tech management people say "buy Cisco" whether
it is better for the application or not, just like in many cases they now
say "buy NT and MS Office" .  I think the education push has as much
effect as the rest of marketing, because if a hiring executive sees
"Microsoft Certified Software Engineer" on more resumes than any other
type of certification, it has to lead toward belief that Microsoft
Certification is desirable, therefore Microsoft is good.  And I'm not
lumping Cisco in with Microsoft as far as quality goes, just as an example
of my concerns.  It's a bass-ackwards way to get market share, but when
you are dealing with people who do not have the time nor inclination to
learn technology, and who have no same level technical officer to consult
(which seems to be the case at most small to medium companies, why don't
they create a VP of Tech psoition?) then they get their technology
information from where ever they see it, including the next door neighbor
that just "loves his WebTV" and the Intel bunnies on TV.  If Cisco manages
to get a whole flock of  "Cisco Certified" kids coming out of 2 and 4 year
schools, and does some sexy TV ads, they are going to get to these
midlevel execs.

And I'm not knocking being certified by anyone either, because even if it
is a regurgitation exam, the cert will definitely not hurt your hirability
or your $payability.  It is unfortunate that there is no way to let
non-tech people know the difference between Certs that require skills, and
Certs that rquire memorization, but that is always the case with any kind
of diploma, etc.

Tim