I think that these start-ups do put pressure on Cisco to produce their own offering. But what people like Jach, Minnie, et al, fail to remember is that Cisco has been late to market with their own products many times, but still come out ahead. One reason for this is that they like to see where the demand is, before committing. But when they commit, they aim to take 1st or 2nd place.
The biggest impediment to the success of these start-ups is the lack of a huge service infrastructure. For a large telecommunications company to buy your mission critical switch or router, they want assurances that you will have the service in place to handle outages. Cisco has that infrastructure and the dedication (remember flying out a new router on a chartered jet when the AT&T router went down?).
Some of these little guys have promising technology, like Juniper. But most of them will be flashes in the pan. Remember that superior technology does not the company make. Examples of companies with superior technology that couldn't compete effectively: IBM (O/S2), Informix (databases), Bay Networks, DEC (alpha chip). Examples of the winners with not always the best technology: Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, and Intel. |
