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 Subscribe to Bloggers speak out on BradReese.Com Did Cisco's new sales culture ripoff the State of West Virginia? View the actual $24 million purchase order that appears to detail Cisco's ripoff of the State of West Virginia. Fri, 5/18/12 - 7:41pm View comments Update 5/21/2012: So far, the below email message has been the only official response from Cisco:
Note: I find it most telling about the "culture" of Cisco CEO John Chambers' executive management team when John Earnhardt, Director of Cisco's Corporate Communications, nefariously implies in his email message above, that I called Cisco employees at their homes in order to harass them. I mean, Cisco's campaign of misinformation is disingenuous (at least in my opinion) and does not address the issue of whether it appears Cisco knowingly ripped off the State of West Virginia. For example, Cisco's marketing campaign for the State of West Virginia (i.e. Cisco's State of West Virginia Engagement Snapshot document, page 3), lists the names, work phone numbers and work email addresses of the 4 Cisco sales people responsible for Cisco sales to the State of West Virginia, see the below screenshot: Cisco's Sales People responsible for Cisco's sales to the State of West Virginia
I called 3 of the above Cisco work phone numbers and left voice mail messages for Cevenini, Frazier and Purcell, who were listed as the Cisco sales people responsible for Cisco's sales to the State of West Virginia. And the only response I received from Cisco was the above email message nefariously implying (at least in my opinion) that I'm harassing Cisco employees in their homes!
Again, why won't Cisco address the issue of whether it appears Cisco knowingly ripped off the State of West Virginia?
According to an industry source, under the unusually long 17-year leadership of Cisco CEO John Chambers, the sales culture of Cisco has gone from an "old" culture of: "Help your customers solve wicked hard business important problems with our excellent products." To a "new" and very disturbing Cisco sales culture of:
"Define your customers buying agenda."
State paid $22K each for Internet routers "The Cisco 3945 series routers, which cost $22,600 each, are built to serve 'tens of thousands' of users or device connections, according to a Cisco sales agent. The routers are designed to serve a minimum of 500 users. "Yet state broadband project officials directed the installation of the stimulus-funded Cisco routers in West Virginia schools with fewer than a dozen computers and libraries that have only a single terminal for patrons. "The routers alone cost the state $7,800 each, but 'add-ons' -- additional equipment that came with the devices -- boosted the price tag by $14,800." View the actual $24 million purchase order that appears to detail Cisco's ripoff of the State of West Virginia.
Furthermore, at the 37:20 time mark in the video below, U.S. Representative Greg Walden questions Lawrence Strickling the Assistant U.S. Secretary of Commerce, about whether Cisco sold grossly oversized 3945 routers that were over-provisioned with excessive features and add-ons in order to ripoff the State of West Virginia:
Page 8 of this budget document details the amount the State of West Virginia spent on Cisco gear: Cisco 3560 switches, 118 units at $5,372 each for a total of $633,896. Cisco Aggregation Services Routers, 30 units at $53,800 each for a total of $1,614,000. Cisco ASR, 2 units at $226,000 each for a total of $452,000. Cisco 6513, 2 units at $163,000 each for a total of $326,000. Cisco 3945 routers, 1064 units at $22,604 each for a total of $24,050,656. View the actual $24 million purchase order. According to page 9 of the State of West Virginia's budget document: "This category includes 1064 Cisco 3945 Routers at a total cost of $24,050,656. This cost represents a significant cost avoidance to the overall grant in that, we were able to purchase top end switches at a cost comparable to a base line (suitable for today's use, but not future) with five (5) year warranty. Although, the overall funding impact is minimal, the realization is that the Cisco 3945 router will meet every need for the Community Anchors for the foreseeable future." Finally, Eric Eyre documents that 366 of the expensive Cisco 3945 routers remain stored in their boxes: Internet routers have sat unused for nearly two years "The 366 boxed-up routers came with a five-year service warranty, so the state has already lost two years of free maintenance on the equipment." I pointed out to Eric Eyre that Cisco's SmartNet Maintenance Services are NOT FREE and that according to its purchase order (page 3), the State of West Virginia paid $8,384,107.20 for its 5-year SmartNet contracts. That means over the past 2-years, the State of West Virginia has paid Cisco $1,153,602.72 for SmartNet maintenance on 366 Cisco routers that remain stored in their boxes! At the time of the purchase order, Cisco's West Virginia Territory Account Manager was Glen Dailey, who's listed on the advisory board of the 2010 West Virginia Information Technology Summit:
Related documents: *Courtesy of Eric Eyre, the great reporter for the Charleston Gazette. Related stories: West Virginia's stimulus-funded router purchase Obama administration official defends $24M state router purchase Broadband consultant invoice rejected Router issues won't affect fiber, Frontier says Firm to audit W.Va. broadband stimulus spending Internet routers have sat unused for nearly two years State paid $22K each for Internet routers Appropriate size facility for cisco 3945 router purchase?
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