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  5. Startups Seeking Entry To Enterprise Networks: Page 2 of 3
Networking

Startups Seeking Entry To Enterprise Networks: Page 2 of 3

Is your enterprise willing to purchase networking hardware from startups? That question, which arose during a panel discussion at last week's Network Outlook conference, is perhaps a timeless one in
March 16, 2004

If acceptance means getting inside someone else's switch, "we'll do it," Ricotta said.

Erik Suppiger, senior research analyst for IP infrastructure at investment bankers Pacific Growth Equities, was also on the panel, and said the time is right for networking hardware startups to stake a claim in the closet.

Innovative network-processing hardware, Suppiger said, "is not a strength or a focus for Cisco right now." Haque was even more blunt: "I think some of these larger companies are fundamentally incapable of innovation," he said.

Clearly, networking hardware startups have flourished when the need, price and ease of implementation were right -- nobody at the conference needed to be told the story of NetScreen Technologies, and its recent happy ending. Whether or not the current startups follow a similar path to riches depends in part on how successful they are at getting into your network sooner, rather than later.

(Is your firm willing to purchase networking hardware from startups? Take our online survey and let us know.)

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