Comments on: Why Didn’t Nortel Do Better ? Cisco Wasn’t Always the Top Dog. http://etherealmind.com/why-didnt-nortel-do-better-cisco-wasnt-always-the-top-dog/ Network design, architecture, thinking, working. Tech. Thu, 24 May 2012 12:53:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Greg Ferro http://etherealmind.com/why-didnt-nortel-do-better-cisco-wasnt-always-the-top-dog/#comment-201 Greg Ferro Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:46:25 +0000 http://etherealmind.com/?p=126#comment-201 The thing that I find interesting is that Cisco has managed to end run around the IOS single processor limitation for so long. I suspect that customers are beginning to realise this because of the number of people who are commenting on the number of different types of IOS. Back in the days of IOS 9 & 10 this was commonplace, but I had a niggling problem with IOS that were fixed by upgrade up to 12.2. This was commonplace, I remember clearly the Networkers session when Cisco announced that they were going to perform structured testing on IOS in 2002/2003 and the relief that IOS was probably going to work more often. I am forced to believe that the Testing Division at Cisco is up to the job of validating each software platform but it must represent an enormous risk to business. There is a possibility that Juniper or some other startup could make ground if there is a stumble here. The thing that I find interesting is that Cisco has managed to end run around the IOS single processor limitation for so long. I suspect that customers are beginning to realise this because of the number of people who are commenting on the number of different types of IOS.

Back in the days of IOS 9 & 10 this was commonplace, but I had a niggling problem with IOS that were fixed by upgrade up to 12.2. This was commonplace, I remember clearly the Networkers session when Cisco announced that they were going to perform structured testing on IOS in 2002/2003 and the relief that IOS was probably going to work more often.

I am forced to believe that the Testing Division at Cisco is up to the job of validating each software platform but it must represent an enormous risk to business. There is a possibility that Juniper or some other startup could make ground if there is a stumble here.

]]> By: Omar Sultan http://etherealmind.com/why-didnt-nortel-do-better-cisco-wasnt-always-the-top-dog/#comment-200 Omar Sultan Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:24:39 +0000 http://etherealmind.com/?p=126#comment-200 Greg: I also worked worked for a network integrator in the early 90s and sold the heck out of SynOptics and Wellfleet and I had similar experiences to yours. We were one of the largest channels for both Cisco and Wellfleet so we had some insight into both companies. I think it came down to the fact that, at the time, Wellfleet was a hardware company and Cisco was a software company and they both designed to their strengths. Wellfleet had the most elegant hardware platform, by far, but the software was always painful. Even when they did something innovative like the distributed processing, they had problems keeping the routing processes in sync. As you note, at the time, Cisco gear tended to get control-plane bound. I will say that IOS did not start out that way. It is a good case study in how being responsive to customers is a double edged sword. I remember I had customer having problems with LAT translation and I got on the phone with the developer (yes, you used to be able to do that) and we talked through the problem and he FTP-ed me a patched version of IOS. So, we had a version of IOS that existed in exactly two places in the universe: my customer's network and the developer's workstation. Now, this is incredibly cool and incredibly scary and by v9.2 or so, the wheels started to come off the wagon and the IOS folks have done a good job of turning things around since then. Omar Greg:

I also worked worked for a network integrator in the early 90s and sold the heck out of SynOptics and Wellfleet and I had similar experiences to yours. We were one of the largest channels for both Cisco and Wellfleet so we had some insight into both companies. I think it came down to the fact that, at the time, Wellfleet was a hardware company and Cisco was a software company and they both designed to their strengths. Wellfleet had the most elegant hardware platform, by far, but the software was always painful. Even when they did something innovative like the distributed processing, they had problems keeping the routing processes in sync. As you note, at the time, Cisco gear tended to get control-plane bound.

I will say that IOS did not start out that way. It is a good case study in how being responsive to customers is a double edged sword. I remember I had customer having problems with LAT translation and I got on the phone with the developer (yes, you used to be able to do that) and we talked through the problem and he FTP-ed me a patched version of IOS. So, we had a version of IOS that existed in exactly two places in the universe: my customer’s network and the developer’s workstation. Now, this is incredibly cool and incredibly scary and by v9.2 or so, the wheels started to come off the wagon and the IOS folks have done a good job of turning things around since then.

Omar

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