Top Execs Share Enterprise Vision
Oct. 09, 1998 (Computer Reseller News - CMP via COMTEX) -- Palm Desert, Calif. -- Cisco Systems Inc.
President and Chief Executive John Chambers said he is not intimidated by networking telecommunications
rivals Lucent Technologies Inc. and Northern Telecom Ltd.
Chambers spoke with CRN last Thursday, the day the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-imposed
pooling restriction was lifted from Lucent, freeing the company up to pursue mergers and acquisitions.
Chambers, however, said Lucent and Nortel have misjudged the difficulties of the market.
"I think they're underestimating the challenges," he said. "We have a culture [that has] an unusual balance
of confidence that we can take on the biggest players of the world. And this isn't the first time we've done
this. So to think that we would underestimate or, secondly, not be able to execute effectively vs. a Lucent or
a Nortel is not giving us credit for our skill sets."
The conventional wisdom that says telecom companies can succeed in the data-networking market by
acquisitions is wrong, Chambers said. "Most [acquisitions] fail in our industry," he said, citing a long list of
examples, including 3Com Corp., Cabletron Systems Inc. and Newbridge Networks Corp.
"The most successful [acquisition] was Ascend-Cascade," Chambers said, "yet they grew only 5 percent
revenue the next year."
Cisco is well-positioned technologically for the upcoming battle for customers, Chambers said, because the
tide of convergence in the networking industry is "video and voice underneath the data infrastructure, which
plays hugely to our advantage."
Chambers outlined an aggressive Internet vision for approximately 400 enterprise executives at the Mission
Critical Computing conference, held here.
"Getting everything connected will be the future," he said. "In short, it's going to change everything about our
society. Are you ready?"
Chambers was one of several high-profile executives at the conference. Earlier in the day, Hewlett-Packard
Co. Chairman Lewis Platt told attendees they need to cope with four key trends to keep their companies
successful.
These include fast-changing technologies, increased globalization, the need for speed and agility, and the
need to forge successful strategic partnerships, Platt said.
"The need for bifocal vision-seeing the past and the future simultaneously" will be critical for executives who
hope to be successful in the enterprise markets, he said.
Resellers "play a huge role" in helping enterprise customers, especially if the reseller focuses on providing
services, he said.
Enterprise customers "want knowledgeable people who can help them make the right choice initially. They
are looking for quick delivery and they are looking for very good local support," Platt said.
The channel's mission to the enterprise marketplace is evolving, he
said.
"The reseller's mission is changing. They need, I think, to pay more attention to this business of knowledge
and support of the customers. It is no longer good enough to have the product. The customer wants more
than that out of the relationship," Platt said.
"There's a lot of controversy about going direct vs. going through the channel or the reseller," he said.
"I think the reseller is going to have to search for the new value-add in order to succeed. The new value-add
really can come in terms of supporting everything from helping the customer make the right choice of
product to helping getting it installed, running it, doing the training and doing the real fix-it kind of support
when the system goes down," Platt said.
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A short note: Could this be John Chambers way of saying that due to the fact that Nortel Networks and Lucent turned him down NOW that kind of relationship does not work? John good try but we know better.
Regards
Glenn |
