West Virginia auditor blasts Cisco, state for "oversized" router buy

West Virginia Legislative Auditor says vendor and state officials skirted legalities in $24 million router contract

West Virginia wasted millions in federal grant money when it purchased 1,164 Cisco routers for $24 million in 2010, a state audit concluded.

A report issued this month by the West Virginia Legislative Auditor found the state used a "legally unauthorized purchasing process" when awarding the router contract, paid for with federal stimulus funds, to Cisco. The auditor also found Cisco "showed a wanton indifference to the interests of the public" in recommending the investment in its model 3945 branch routers, the majority of which were "oversized" for the requirements of the state agencies using them, the report stated.

[PRICEY STUFF: Country's largest 4-year university expels Cisco, saves $100 million ]

Page 3 of 3

Cisco CEO John Chambers is a native of West Virginia.

Jim Duffy has been covering technology for over 25 years, 21 at Network World. He also writes The Cisco Connection blog and can be reached on Twitter @Jim_Duffy.

Read more about lans & wans in Network World's LANs & WANs section.