Mntsnow
01-04-2003, 6:49 AM
Not only do you have to worry about your enterprise's survival in the coming year, you have to make sure those vendors you depend on are going to be in business long enough to serve you. CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers)--and their customers-- have suffered the worst over the past few years, but even some bigger carriers and networking companies have hit on hard times--WorldCom, Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies come to mind.
It's tempting to make compromises in the interests of short-term survival, but you need to think about the long-term implications of your decisions. Most important, don't compromise on standards compliance. If you do, you'll wind up locked into a vendor's prices and service. Use your dollars wisely and wield your purchase power to support vendors that support standards, and everyone will win in the end.
Continued Commoditization
You can always count on the cost of network equipment dropping over time. The slowdown in spending may give some vendors even more incentive to cut prices to make a deal. Still, some low-end equipment is becoming commoditized by companies such as Dell Computer, which has proven it knows how to make a good profit on commodity products. This year, for instance, Dell introduced a line of high-performance 10/100 and gigabit switches that are long on features but short on price. We tested one in our Real-World LabsŪ and found its performance uncompromising. The price per port is so inexpensive that Cisco and 3Com have stopped selling their switches on Dell's Web site.
Catching your eye? If so you might want to check out the full article that Peter Morrissey (http://www.nwc.com/1326/1326f6.html) wrote
It's tempting to make compromises in the interests of short-term survival, but you need to think about the long-term implications of your decisions. Most important, don't compromise on standards compliance. If you do, you'll wind up locked into a vendor's prices and service. Use your dollars wisely and wield your purchase power to support vendors that support standards, and everyone will win in the end.
Continued Commoditization
You can always count on the cost of network equipment dropping over time. The slowdown in spending may give some vendors even more incentive to cut prices to make a deal. Still, some low-end equipment is becoming commoditized by companies such as Dell Computer, which has proven it knows how to make a good profit on commodity products. This year, for instance, Dell introduced a line of high-performance 10/100 and gigabit switches that are long on features but short on price. We tested one in our Real-World LabsŪ and found its performance uncompromising. The price per port is so inexpensive that Cisco and 3Com have stopped selling their switches on Dell's Web site.
Catching your eye? If so you might want to check out the full article that Peter Morrissey (http://www.nwc.com/1326/1326f6.html) wrote