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Cisco memo: We can’t build anything

• wtracy 15y ago
  "The SDN memo, at least from my perspective, sends the wrong message to Cisco’s engineering corps: you are worth more outside than you are inside Cisco." As a former Cisco employee, that sounds about right. Cisco does have an entire business unit dedicated to developing products that enter new markets, but it looked like a horrible place to be. It was pitched as a "startup environment" (apparently code for "work 60-hour weeks" and "you can get laid off if the project falls through") but came with the same normal paycheck and crushing bureaucracy as any other place in Cisco.
• petrilli 15y ago
  This isn't new. Cisco hasn't really had a lot of success with their own products, but has had a lot of success buying other companies and re-labling them into the Cisco ecosystem. I've been a customer of some of those companies and it's always a bumpy, but also amusing ride. The first one I remember them buying was Crescendo, who made some of the better FDDI gear at the time. Cisco bought them around 1993 because their own gear was worthless. You can see a list of all the companies they've bought here: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/corporate_development/acquisitions/ac_name/about_cisco_acquisition_names_list.html http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/corporate_deve...
  • pasbesoin 15y ago
    IIRC, the increasing hit and miss, "dodginess" nature of Linksys consumer level products has been noted as coinciding with Linksys' acquisition by Cisco.
• salem 15y ago
  This is probably the only way Cisco can build a genuinely innovative team that is remunerated well and is not bogged down by Cisco corp-BS and actually ship something awesome. The downside for Cisco is that they will all leave once they max out their earn out. I've been there, I've seen it.