As I understand it, CSCO and TLAB do not compete with each other. CSCO makes routers--widgets that look at data packets from computer A and send them on to computer B. The wire between computer A and computer B could be a piece of copper a few feet long, or a piece of fiber optic hundreds of miles long. If it's fiber optic, then TLAB thingys are used to connect one piece of fiber to the next, while keeping that data packet heading in the right direction instead of ending up as static on someone's voice line. While CSCO *only* handles data traffic, TLAB handles voice, data, video, and anything else that happens to be traveling over the line.
Or, put another way, CSCO worries about the logical connections between systems, and TLAB worries about the physical connections.
I think.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. This is only what I've gleaned from the respective company web pages, not my own expertise.
Thanks,
Katherine |
