Cisco's exsistence

cdad2000

Hey everybody,

Do you think someday Cisco will no longer be the 800 pound gorilla?

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Comments

nice343

I don't think so. If cisco keep coming with new and innovative products. They will be a round for a while.

with a cisco multi-access router you can configure your router to support callmanager express(voice), WAN, LAN, Video, and data. If a single box can have all these capabilities I think they would be a round for a while.

Cisco needs to learn from google. They should buy every new network invention that comes out so they can be at the top of their game. Google have bought multiple sites including youtube because they want to crush every competion out there and so far google is succeding. They hold 60% of everyday internet searches

cdad2000

Yea Cisco as acquired other companies. Good point with the MLS

ally_uk

I think the Open Source way of doing things will begin to steal alot of Cisco's thunder,

For example if a company needs to implement a VOIP setup and usually use the Cisco gear they could cut back the costs by deploying a Asterisk setup instead.

Secondly Cisco routers and Switches etc, can also be replaced with cheaper alternatives and open source alternatives.

I personally am going to head in the Open Source direction career wise i.e learn asterisk and router , switching , open source alternatives purely for the reason if I end up in a interview situation and I can state " Hey forget your expensive Cisco gear I can do the same thing for a lower cost"

Then surely the guys will be like hang on we like the sound of this

Although I think I may also undertake a CCNA aswell to get the best of both worlds I am currently undecided.

mobri09

You do have a point with finance aspects in regards to Cisco and their technologies. But, they are the top dogs in the IT world, with excellent and reliable products as well as customer services. Therefore, the majority of the IT world implements Cisco within enterprise companies. But, for small business people could turn to open source. Even small business are deploying Cisco equipment these days

blargoe

I really like the open source alternatives, but...

Businesses that require 24/7 uptime just aren't going to go the freebie open source route and be at the mercy of some mom-n-pop or some kid who eats drinks and breathes Linux because he thinks it's cool. Another issue is that these OSS solutions are often highly customized by whichever consulting company put it in, if that company goes by the wayside, who is going to support their configuration?

The expertise is too hard to find, not standardized, and the whole prospect is too risky in the eyes of most businesses of substantial size.

Goldmember

Cisco isn't going anywhere because of a few reasons.

1) Networking is getting bigger...think home networking, cars, new businesses, new countries, global economy

2) Cisco has been buying small competitors for years...Linksys, Catalyst Switches, other companies

3) They are so damn good at what they do...some of their products are a little subpar( I hear mostly bad things about security products for functionality), but otherwise their products are solid and work very well.

4) A lot of Cisco trained techs and engineers. So many people have cut their teeth with Cisco that this company has become synonymous with networking.

5) John Chambers is the man. He knows what hes doing and he keeps the company moving forward. VOIP, SANs, and home networking are markets he has pushed for and succeeded in amazingly. Look at how big VOIP has become! Cisco is the big player in this market now!

6) They have good networking academies and training for employees. The sheer amount of technical documentation is otherworldly. This company has put its foot forward in the right direction time and time again.

Cisco can die, but they will leave and breathe successfully until somebody screws this company up big time. Right now they have John Chambers and a whole lot of solid technological devices and breakthrough behind them.

I see Cisco being the dominate networking company for another 20 years.

Claymoore

The real question is how did they become the 800 pound gorilla. The answer (or at least most of the answer) is IGRP. Networks were becoming large enough that they were at the the limit of what RIP could handle (15 routers) and OSPF wasn't a standard yet. Cisco came along with their proprietary IGRP protocol and seized massive market share. Later they improved their own routing protocol and combined different attributes of different routing protocols to create EIGRP.

Since only Cisco supports EIGRP, once you implement it you are stuck buying Cisco gear. This is a business argument for closed rather than open systems - once a customer, always a customer. As long a Cisco contiues to develop products and protocols that are better than the rest of the open market, they will be the market leader.

dtlokee

it's a little more than one protocol, or one technology that keeps Cisco on top. Cisco has adapted to the changing needs of networks over the last 25 years. They continue to infiltrate new markets that allow them to grow even when the network market was not. They will continue to be number one or two in most markets they have a stake in for many years to come. But that doesn't mean they will not end up the next IBM, it can happen.

Remember the slogan: "no one ever got fired for buying IBM" I don;t know if that still applies anymore but when I first got interested in 1988 IBM was it.

EDIT: I am just hoping CSCO makes it back to $38/share, I'll break even

garv221

cdad2000 wrote:

Hey everybody,

Do you think someday Cisco will no longer be the 800 pound gorilla?

They will always be around unless they leave on their own choice. Huge following and great reliability.

sprkymrk

garv221 wrote:

cdad2000 wrote:

Hey everybody,

Do you think someday Cisco will no longer be the 800 pound gorilla?

They will always be around unless they leave on their own choice. Huge following and great reliability.

Many said that about Novell too. They are still around, but not the 800 pound gorilla they once were, not even close.

I also see Cisco dominating the market for many years to come, but things can change SO fast any predicitions can fall through in a day. Look at Enron. Look at Lucent.

redgren

dtlokee wrote:

EDIT: I am just hoping CSCO makes it back to $38/share, I'll break even

Ouch. You have a ways to go.