Yesterday, Cisco announced that it was acquiring network services virtualization platform vendor, LineSider.
Unfortunately (at least in my opinion), LineSider will now report to Sujai Hajela - Cisco's new VP & general manager of its network management technology group (NMTG).
And why do I consider it unfortunate that LineSider employees will now report to Sujai Hajela?
Well, until quite recently, Sujai Hajela was the vice president and general manager for wireless network solutions, Motorola enterprise mobility solutions and here's how a survey this year by Nemertes Research viewed Hajela's management of Motorola's WLAN business:
"Of all the Market Leaders, Motorola performed singularly poorly, with three of the lowest overall ratings (customer service, value, and overall).
"We were unable to uncover any benchmark or survey participants with positive things to say about Motorola; the company appears to be rapidly losing ground in the WLAN arena. Without a significant improvement in technology and go-to-market strategy, we anticipate the company will not qualify as a Market Leader next year.
"Motorola should either dramatically improve across the board or consider exiting this market."
Well, Sujai Hajela certainly appears to have followed this year's WLAN survey advice to Motorola by exiting the WLAN business entirely via his joining Cisco's network management technology group (NMTG). Tellingly, according to Network World:
"CEO John Chambers annually seems to lament the state of Cisco network management when he's asked where the company is most challenged or weakest from a product development and marketing aspect."
December 13th will be the first day at Cisco's Boxborough, MA facility for LineSider employees.
Below is the bureaucracy at Cisco's network management technology group (NMTG) they will need to learn how to navigate:
LineSider claims that its OverDrive product has an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) allowing network support teams to no longer have to manually and individually configure discreet network services across large deployed networks saving significant amounts of time, labor and cost.
