What is Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?  We at Cisco have emphasized this when possible (see: Why TCO is the Only True Way to Measure Network Costs) but this concept isn’t always well understood.  Let me give you an example:  I have two dogs and when asked, I tell people these are the last dogs I’ll have.  The reason for this is simple, dogs are expensive!  Typically, “how much is the doggy in the window?” doesn’t even begin to cover the complete costs once you bring Spot home.  You need to buy a dog bed, a dog collar, toys, bones, and of course the daily pile of food they eat.  Let’s add to that veterinary bills, which are only annual if you are lucky, and then the wear and tear on your home.  That last one is a doozy.  I have watched three couches take a beating, carpets ruined, stuffed animals gutted, scratched doors happen – well, you get the picture.  So, ball parking it, my “free” dogs from the local rescue have a TCO of at least $2,000 a year with a potential lifetime cost of $20-30k!  Who am I kidding, they are worth every penny…

While that’s easy to understand, the TCO of a network isn’t always an intuitive thing and can certainly be a Read More »

Tags: CEWC, Cisco, Service Provider, tco, total cost of ownership, UCE&MB

Every time I have the opportunity to discuss technology investments with a CxO I hear these 2 requests over and over again: 1) reduce my cost of ownership (acquisition, operation and maintenance); and 2) protect and leverage my current investments.

It is straight-forward to see that with Cisco Unified Communications Release 9.0’s new assisted service capabilities such as native call queuing and one button to record, we’re further reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) and offering more value to our solutions. But if we look beyond new features and capabilities there are other factors in play, and the quality of the experience is becoming a very common theme of these conversations.

Don’t get me wrong, CxOs still want investment protection, and they still want the best TCO. But they ALSO want to make sure that their company is investing in the best platform to drive better collaboration experiences, in-house AND out, for the short AND long term.

It occurred to me that as more and more executives realize the great value that the collaboration tools provide, they’ve also grown more and more concerned about Read More »

Tags: collaboration, CxO concerns, investment protection, native call queuing, total cost of ownership, unified communications

Cisco Catalyst 4500E, our leading modular campus access switching platform, continues to maintain over 65% market share globally for modular Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports by addressing customer requirements through a continuous stream of innovations – witness the 60 Watt PoE capabilities (Cisco Universal Power Over Ethernet, or Cisco UPOE), and Supervisor Engine 7L-E which we delivered last year. We also launched Cisco Catalyst SmartOperations at Cisco Live London earlier this year in February as part of a broader launch across multiple switching platforms.

Read More »

Tags: Energywise, PoE+, Power over Ethernet, tco, total cost of ownership, UPOE, vdi

You need to consider more than the purchase price when building the network that runs your business

As a small or mid-size business, you need to make your dollars stretch. But when it comes to investing in the network that runs your business, saving money on the purchase price can cost you more over time—at least 20-35 percent over a three-year timeframe. You need to consider the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the equipment you’re purchasing, including implementation, network downtime, and security breaches.

With a tactical network—one that provides simple connectivity—you could end up spending more money on equipment and services to meet the needs of your business. Also, if your network includes devices from multiple vendors, you may spend more time managing and coordinating those vendors and more money troubleshooting problems rather than focusing on running your business. This loss of time and money increases TCO and decreases the value and return on your technology investment.

Read More »

Tags: mid-market, right network, small_business, tco, total cost of ownership

Our neighbors in Palo Alto have been making a lot of noise about the difference in price between Hewlett-Packard and Cisco networking equipment. They’d like customers to believe they can offer similar capabilities to Cisco but at much lower prices—“Cisco for less,” if you will.

Most folks understand that the first part of that claim isn’t true. They’re not Cisco. To start with, when a company spends just 2% of revenues on R&D (as HP does), it isn’t capable of generating the type of innovation that a company spending 13% can (as Cisco does). We explained how Cisco innovation delivers differentiated capabilities when we debunked the myth of the ‘Good Enough’ network.

But some customers still ask me about the price difference—the “for less” part.  After all, everyone is looking to cut costs, right?

Read More »

Tags: beyond tco, borderless network architecture, Borderless Networks, cisco for less, economics of networking, Energywise, good enough network, medianet, prime network management, ross fowler, tco, total cost of ownership, TrustSec, waas, WAN acceleration