Some customers turning to competitors instead of waiting months for a switch or firewall
Those longer lead times affecting delivery of Cisco products are biting the company in the backside. Some customers are opting for alternatives from competitors instead of waiting months, in some cases, for a Cisco switch or firewall.
“We’ve actually cancelled orders with Cisco for (multiple Catalyst) 4948s (90 day lead time) and replaced them with another vendor’s switch (Cisco-NSP e-mail site.
The product delays are due to higher than expected demand as well as constrained suppliers, a situation Cisco acknowledged in its last quarterly conference call. Affected products include Catalyst 6500, 4900, and 3560 switches, ASA firewalls, Nexus switches, and other products and accessories.
Some customers report on the Cisco-NSP e-mail list delivery lags by as much as 4 to 6 months. Sonicwall was the beneficiary of a firewall deal that would have gone to Cisco if its ASA platform was not delayed until late June due to a chipset change, according to one post on the site.
Others are opting for used gear from resellers promising immediate delivery.
Cisco says it is working with suppliers on better management of its supply chain. And while healthy demand might seem like a good problem to have, inability to ship product in a timely manner is not.
“Cisco is no longer the only game in town and not managing their lead times more appropriately will just drive business to their competitors,” says Mark Fabbi, vice president and distinguished analyst for Enterprise Communications at Gartner.
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