
Cisco memo: We can’t build anything - iProject
http://gigaom.com/cloud/cisco-memo-we-cant-build-anything/
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wtracy
"The SDN memo, at least from my perspective, sends the wrong message to
Cisco’s engineering corps: you are worth more outside than you are inside
Cisco."

As a former Cisco employee, that sounds about right. Cisco does have an entire
business unit dedicated to developing products that enter new markets, but it
looked like a horrible place to be.

It was pitched as a "startup environment" (apparently code for "work 60-hour
weeks" and "you can get laid off if the project falls through") but came with
the same normal paycheck and crushing bureaucracy as any other place in Cisco.

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petrilli
This isn't new. Cisco hasn't really had a lot of success with their own
products, but has had a lot of success buying other companies and re-labling
them into the Cisco ecosystem. I've been a customer of some of those companies
and it's always a bumpy, but also amusing ride.

The first one I remember them buying was Crescendo, who made some of the
better FDDI gear at the time. Cisco bought them around 1993 because their own
gear was worthless. You can see a list of all the companies they've bought
here:
[http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/corporate_deve...](http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/corporate_development/acquisitions/ac_name/about_cisco_acquisition_names_list.html)

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pasbesoin
IIRC, the increasing hit and miss, "dodginess" nature of Linksys consumer
level products has been noted as coinciding with Linksys' acquisition by
Cisco.

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salem
This is probably the only way Cisco can build a genuinely innovative team that
is remunerated well and is not bogged down by Cisco corp-BS and actually ship
something awesome. The downside for Cisco is that they will all leave once
they max out their earn out. I've been there, I've seen it.

