Nortel asks: Do you really want to give control of your destiny to Cisco?

NetworkWorld.com | LANs & WANs Research Center | Update Your Profile Nortel asks: Do you really want to give control of your destiny to Cisco? By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler Last time, we heard from Nortel's Tony Rybczynski, director strategic enterprise technologies, concerning the disadvantages of having a single-vendor network infrastructure. Today, we'll continue with Rybczynski's arguments: "Once again, let's restate the question to further embrace reality: 'Should you retain or move toward a single vendor vertically integrated Cisco network?' We, and a growing number of customers, say 'No'. Read full story Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at taylor@webtorials.com Jim Metzler is the Vice President of Ashton, Metzler & Associates, a consulting organization that focuses on leveraging technology for business success. Jim assists vendors to refine product strategies, service providers to deploy technologies and services, and enterprises evolve their network infrastructure. He can be reached via e-mail. SPONSORED BY SHUNRA VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE Wrap Up Your IT projects with Shunra VE Deploy More Applications On-Time, Finish Twice as Many Projects, and Increase End User Satisfaction Through Application Performance Testing with Shunra Extended Services. Immediately add testing processes that are critical to application rollout success. Take advantage of integrated functional, load, and network testing from the trusted name in application performance testing and WAN emulation technology. RELATED NEWS: Packeteer introduces plan for guaranteeing WAN application performance, 12/05/07 Packeteer is introducing a new management platform that draws data from its own and other vendors’ gear to boost the performance of applications over the WAN and is the first step in a broader application-performance plan. Carriers mobilize for $24B in military telecom contracts, 12/04/07 It’s the high-tech spoils of war: The U.S. military plans to award telecommunications contracts worth as much as $24 billion, and the top-tier carriers are signing up to get a piece of the action. From the U.S. Army to IP routing Retired Army Lieutenant General now leading Cisco IP routing charge. Cisco getting into Juniper's core? Do Cisco's two recent wins for its core router signal the vendor gaining ground in Juniper's core routing market? Finding Cisco's competition, 11/15/2007The last couple of newsletters have examined some key enterprise IT markets that are dominated by Cisco. 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(apply coupon NWW2007NLA for a 25% membership discount)   12/06/07 TODAY'S MOST-READ STORIES: Green buildings make employees see red Microsoft uses inkblots as password reminders Microsoft pulls plug on potty-mouth Santa Warrior fills vacant CTO role at Cisco Juniper 'Hurricane' in the forecast 'Cisco-is-the-only-vendor-for-me' mindset Network skills in high demand 2007 Cool Yule Tools Gift Guide Sprint could spin off WiMAX division All-in-one firewalls fall short FEATURED BUYER'S GUIDE: Network Monitoring and Management Comprehensive Network Access Control Download an exclusive whitepaper on Comprehensive Network Access Control and discover how you can provide endpoint security, compliance and peace of mind. Get it now IT Buyer's Guides Compare products, get advice, and check out tests and reviews from the experts at Network World. Over 70 categories. Visit now.   To continue receiving NetworkWorld's Wide Area Networking Alert newsletter, please add @nwfnews.com to your white list. 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