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Don't make me laugh. Cisco does very little to fight fakes!
I'm the owner of Optimum Data, a $12M (annual sales) used Cisco-based, secondary-market reseller, so please understand that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to fighting fake gear. Every single day I'm right in the middle of this issue. Fake Cisco gear personally costs me tens of thousands of dollars every year due to lost sales, lower profit margins, etc.
Cisco's efforts are just laughable. The biggest marketplace for fake gear is eBay, yet Cisco does nothing to prevent even the most flagrant fake resellers located inside of China. Don't believe me? See if you can find Cisco's name on the eBay Vero program list: http://tinyurl.com/27pmhx Want more evidence? Just go to eBay and type in "new Cisco" and you will get about 1000 results. More than half of these items are fake.
Cisco does not train their authorized reseller's on how to spot fake gear. They merely demand that they sell new gear or sell Cisco Authorized Refurb (CAR) at significantly higher than normal secondary market prices. BTW, I've seen the quality of some items in CAR and I must say that I'd be embarrassed to sell items that looked as bad as what Cisco has sold.
Secondary market industry associations have been asking Cisco for identification assistance but Cisco just ignores our requests. What arrogance!
I personally know over 300 used network equipment dealers located in the free world. I'd guestimate that 97% of these companies are honest and trustworthy. They know that fake gear, like illegal narcotics, will hurt them badly in the long run and so they steer clear of any and all fake items. Also, used network equipment dealers depend on repeat business so they will try to maximize value to their customers in any way they can, i.e. fast shipping, relatively low prices, long warranty, free support, etc.
Cisco should stop BS'ing everybody and they should starting to do some real work with eBay and with the established secondary market and with their authorized channel on how to fight counterfeits.
The Chinese make convincing fakes. It takes a trained eye to quickly discern what is real and what is not. We'll never stop the counterfeiters but if we all banded together, we could really slow them down.