Search /
Docfinder:
Advanced search  |  Help  |  Site map
RESEARCH CENTERS
SITE RESOURCES
Click for Layer 8! No, really, click NOW!
Networking for Small Business
TODAY'S NEWS
The botnet world is booming
What’s driving this university to IPv6? Going green
Google takes direct aim at Microsoft
Microsoft promises to stymie hackers next week with new patches
Chrome OS spotlights rapidly changing mobile Web environment
IT pros continue to lose jobs
How ending exclusivity agreements would change the telecom industry
How to use electrical outlets and cheap lasers to steal data
EMC distances rival NetApp
Crime lab saves energy costs by turning up heat in the data center
IBM security software masks confidential info
Google Native Client provides hints on Chrome OS gambit
Ericsson signs deal to run Sprint wireless, wireline networks
Verizon helping companies assess application vulnerabilities
Internet's biggest issue? IPv6 transition, new ARIN CEO says
/

Cisco CEO John Chambers looks ahead

Today's breaking news
Send to a friendFeedback

Advertisement:

Cisco CEO John Chambers took a few moments last week at the company's annual analyst conference to share some thoughts with Network World Senior Editor Jim Duffy, including the company's plan to move more aggressively into the software market.

Will sales into the enterprise and commercial markets be enough to off- set slowing growth in service provider capital expenditures?

We are not immune to changes but are buffeted differently than competitors, including in demand creation. We're not as affected as players on the edge of these markets. Their decisions to exit the enterprise market is a short-term approach. Enterprises are not outsourcing at the rate people thought they would.

How will you adjust your financing through Cisco Capital in light of slowing growth in carrier spending and the shakeout in the CLEC ranks?

We finance not as a subsidy for sales but as a means to help new markets grow. We will continue to be more conservative than our peers but there is risk involved. We'll also be more selective in terms of a customer's path to profitability, growth and competition.

Is the charter of the Internet Business Solutions Group to push the AVVID architecture, and follow-on Cisco products, into enterprises?

It's to show how applications can be applied to change the process. It's not to push AVVID but to convert enterprises to new e-businesses. It's to help customers do this.

Which of your competitors are you watching most closely? Who's executing the best?

I like all of my competitors. I like all the CEOs at all of them. But this is where Cisco has been unbelievably lucky. There's no substitute for luck. It was a tremendous gift that vendors exited the enterprise market.

But we tripped because Juniper's been more aggressive. We didn't market effectively. They outmarketed us this last year. But [in high-end routing] where are Lucent, Nortel, Alcatel and Siemens? Our target market share is 40% to 70%. You'll see us be more effective in marketing the high end.

Does your plan to move higher up the stack put you into more of a competitive situation with existing and potential partners?

We will play in the middleware area. We listen to what our customer needs are. We will first partner, or we may participate and then play. Or it may be a combination of all of the above. We don't strategically partner and then compete. We will compete to an extent. There's a natural gray area where there will be overlap.

RELATED LINKS

Contact Senior Editor Jim Duffy

Other recent articles by Duffy

Vendor profile: Cisco
Breaking news and financials about the company.

Cisco ups software ante
Cisco last week outlined a plan to invest billions in software that will let users better control voice, content, security and wireless services on their Cisco networks. Network World, 12/11/00.

Chambers shrugs off bear market
A one-on-one with Senior Editor Jim Duffy.
Network World, 05/29/00.


NWFusion offers more than 40 FREE technology-specific email newsletters in key network technology areas such as NSM, VPNs, Convergence, Security and more.
Click here to sign up!
New Event - WANs: Optimizing Your Network Now.
Hear from the experts about the innovations that are already starting to shake up the WAN world. Free Network World Technology Tour and Expo in Dallas, San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York.
Attend FREE
Your FREE Network World subscription will also include breaking news and information on wireless, storage, infrastructure, carriers and SPs, enterprise applications, videoconferencing, plus product reviews, technology insiders, management surveys and technology updates - GET IT NOW.
* HOME    * RESEARCH CENTERS     * NEWS     * EVENTS

Contact us | Terms of Service/Privacy | How to Advertise
Reprints and links | Partnerships | Subscribe to NW
About Network World, Inc.

Copyright, 1994-2006 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.