I did not mean to imply the SONS//JNPR effort was in response to the GX//CSCO deal, but that the timing of this announcement indicated there had been involvement by all parties.
From what I can gather, difserv and RSVP are not going anywhere, RSVP having been shown to be non-scalable and complex, difserv not having any significant plusses over MLPS which is already established. That CSCO certifies SONS gear is certainly understandable. Especially this is the case for future evolution of the market. If CSCO can certify another maker's gear, then down the road when CSCO eats their lunch, or vice versa, the gear can still be plug and play. The market is bigger due to standardization efforts.
Priority packets are just that: priority. Guaranteed delivery of a high priority packet implies fulfilling certain QoS specs, and I would assume CSCO can establish such specs and fulfill them, while other offerings have yet to put it into writing. I would not know personally, but I am still looking for the definitive reason CSCO can put it in writing and others are not so inclined. It could of course be marketexture but this level of visibility implies some form of marketing guarantee, and it would be this area that would be interesting to examine, and what financial values are attached to this particular line of endeavour.
And yes Ibexx, I sort of view the cooperation amongst various gear vendors and network customers as necessary to grow the market for the vendors, and to establish credibility and alternative sources for the customers. Customers *do not* wish to be stranded by being hooked into one vendor who then goes ballistic or develops production bottlenecks. While I believe the CSCO//GX thing could have revolved largely around price, I cannot believe this is the only element. Obviously GX was inclined to use the more friendly (according to them who should know) gear by JNPR, and has relations with SONS (as does WCG ;^) too, but chose CSCO. To have some anal with a bearish outlook on CSCO declare it was price alone is insufficient evidence. Besides, what is Stix' position in JNPR and SONS?
Thanks for the response,
MartinT |
