>If resale was allowed, do we believe network hardware companies would just shrivel up? Network hardware companies in general wouldn't suffer, but Cisco's incr

>If resale was allowed, do we believe network hardware companies would just shrivel up? Network hardware companies in general wouldn't suffer, but Cisco's increasing reliance upon support, service, and firmware for revenue means that unrestricted resale would bite into Cisco's revenue hard, perhaps 25-50%. Right now Cisco hardware powers the most critical government information systems, including military and financial communications (over 85% of the gear is Cisco.) Since many of these networks use Cisco proprietary functions, have scores of personnel trained on Cisco gear, and relationships with networks of Cisco suppliers, transition to another hardware manufacturer would be both expensive and difficult, at a time when the government has little funding for new initiatives. Since the government needs Cisco to be a smoothly functioning company to meet critical information needs, it makes sense that they maintain tight relations.