思科反对采用“战术的、多供应商的方式”来处理网络

最近几个月，高德纳一直在反对单一供应商网络，尤其是思科的信息，而今天思科回击了。在一个的网上直播在美国，思科(Cisco)的高管们谴责网络“足够好”，以及在他们看来有关网络的普遍误解。他们认为，采用单一供应商的观点有明显的好处，包括更高的创新、更少的停机时间以及与应用程序更好的集成。相比之下，Gartner则表示采用多供应商方式会降低企业客户的成本吗简化他们的操作。这家分析公司说，它的结论是基于数百名客户的互动和九次与企业公司的深度访谈。“现实情况是，按照最佳实践，单一供应商的思科网络并不一定比多供应商的网络更复杂、更容易管理或更可靠，”Gartner的分析师写道。今天，思科试图将这场对话框定为网络本身是一种可以创新的东西，还是仅仅是一种商品。思科全球运营执行副总裁罗伯·劳埃德(Rob Lloyd)说:“关于网络是否真的重要，存在着激烈的争论。”你能根据你购买的设备来区分你的业务吗?或者你能从任何人那里得到你的网络设备吗?当然，这是思科目前面临的主要问题之一当它努力寻找自己的时候。在市场营销中，一个公司的品牌是让它在同样的产品上比竞争对手要价更高的东西。如果思科不能让买家相信收购思科是有附加值的，那么思科的利润率就会下降。对于思科这样的供应商来说，标准是一把双刃剑。大多数用户不会购买符合技术标准的设备。但这是因为用户希望避免被锁定在单一供应商。思科希望你从思科获得所有设备，它必须支持这些标准，同时试图说服用户，锁定是有价值的。在网络直播中，思科这样描述:你想要一个创新的供应商。思科Borderless Networks副总裁兼首席技术官迈克·劳(Mike Rau)表示:“你需要关注(供应商)为标准流程做了什么，也要关注他们在标准之上进行了哪些创新。”Rau继续指出，思科的许多创新最终都成为了标准。 The executives also railed against the idea that the cost to acquire equipment should be a major factor in a buying decision. "The real cost is in project deployment and ongoing support," Lloyd said, though he did not provide numbers. Plus, if you make your decision based solely on acquisition cost, you may lose sight of some cost-saving innovations beyond basic connectivity, such as reducing business travel expenses through videoconferencing. Rau said that the idea that basic QoS is all that's required is the "biggest myth" out there. He said Cisco hardware and software focus on ensuring that video and voice get a high level of QoS, even when requests for bandwidth exceed the amount available. Further, Rau said users should be looking for security and application support to be integrated into their networking products, something you might not get from a multivendor network. Lastly, the executives insisted that Cisco takes a proactive approach, to prevent network failures from happening, and that a basic warranty isn't enough. In a comment that also seems to sum up Cisco's position as a whole, Rau said, "You get what you pay for."