Cisco memo: We can’t build anything

"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.

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...

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.