Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 11:40:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com> To: "Karl Denninger, MCSNet" <karl@mcs.com> Cc: Dennis <dennis@etinc.com>, hackers@freebsd.org, freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ISDN Compression Load on CPU Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.93.960524112845.1899W-100000@sidhe.memra.com> In-Reply-To: <m0uMzUo-0003ksC@mercury.mcs.com>
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On Fri, 24 May 1996, Karl Denninger, MCSNet wrote: > 1) The end-attachment market (your customers). These folks want > simple, simple, simple. Active routing is not required for 99% of > these people. The ASCEND P130 is a great box for this application, > and you will NOT beat it with a PC-style router. You just won't. In many cases these are clueless folks who just buy what their consultant/supplier recommends *AND* supports. There is no reason why somebody can't sell these people FreeBSD boxes with ET cards. These customers get "simple" by relying on their consultant/supplier to handle all the technical and support details. > good* OSPF capability, IS-IS, BGP4, etc. I have tried to set up > BGP4 peering with a PC running gated before; it was a serious pain > in the ass finding on their end finding out why we weren't getting > correct announcements. With a CISCO its a 30-second exercise for > most common configurations. This is only true for people like you who have used lots of Cisco product and now know it inside out. In todays growing market there are lots of folks who feel very comfortable with UNIX but know nothing about Cisco configurations and for them it can be easier to configure gated especially since they can practice with gated and RIP, then progress to gated and OSPF and then, when they need it, progress to gated and BGP. > Now let's talk about support. You claim you provide "full WAN support". > 4-hour on-site hardware replacement if necessary? Instant, > talk-to-an-engineer *NOW* support for software and hardware issues, 24x7? > I get that with CISCO products, and in the backbone area, this is CRITICAL. Not everybody can get this kind of support out of Cisco. If you are an important enough customer of Cisco's and are in a major metro area (like Chicago) and have a good relationship with clueful Cisco people then they can't be beat. Unfortunately, not everybod is in that position and some people just bang their heads against the wall trying to get help from Cisco. With something like the ET card, your local tech people can handle things like power supplies, computer components, system crashes, and you only need to deal with ET when it is an actual WAN hardware or software problem. And you don't need to stock a whole spare box, just the ET card. > I don't have time to dink around with strange problems. If something like > that comes up, I need it fixed now... I've found that no single product is the best for evereyone, evereywhere, everytime. But there is definitely a suite of best products for WAN/ISP use that includes Cisco routers, Livingston Portmaster terminal servers, ET sync cards, FreeBSD, USR Courier modems, Ascend Max, and so on. Michael Dillon ISP & Internet Consulting Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-546-3049 http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com
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