Cisco power calculation tool how to#

Cisco power calculation tool how to#

Specifically, Cisco, with the faces of its salespeople filled with abject horror, makes a big deal out of the supposed herculean, virtually impossible, disruptive, expensive, a-bridge-too-far (pun intended), certainly-beyond-the-aptitude-of-your-networking-professionalsвЂ™ prospect of learning how to configure and maintain another vendorвЂ™s equipment. Having granted Cisco its contention that there is a deep bench of trained people out there, however, the next part inherent in CiscoвЂ™s claim simply cannot be granted or substantiated in any way. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Cisco for training so many people in networking. It might not even be a stretch to surmise that there are as many people trained on Cisco as there are on all other vendorsвЂ™ equipment combined. ThereвЂ™s more Cisco equipment out there than any other vendorвЂ™s equipment, after all. I think that it is self-evident that there are more technicians trained on Cisco than on any other vendorвЂ™s networking equipment.

While this is a bit of an oversimplification, letвЂ™s grant Cisco its point-at least that there are many Cisco trained people out there. The dominant presumption in CiscoвЂ™s claim about TCO (aside from their general attitude of вЂњWho are you gonnaвЂ™ believe, me or your lyinвЂ™ eyes looking at the actual numbers?вЂќ and Obi WanвЂ™s вЂњthese are not the prices from the other vendors you are looking forвЂќ) is that personnel trained in Cisco are readily at hand and those knowledgeable of other vendorsвЂ™ systems are not ubiquitously available. Its argument is not only unconvincing, itвЂ™s downright inaccurate. When it comes to training, this is what Cisco counts on to offset its massively overpriced products and services. As such, this needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis pitting each vendorвЂ™s proposed configuration against that of the others. All in all, most vendors are successfully striving to render their offerings ever more economical from a power consumption and cooling standpoint. Vendors tend to leap frog one another in this arena and, depending on where they happen to be in a technology refresh cycle at any given time, one may hold a slight advantage over others for a season and then it flip flops. With respect to the operational costs of power consumption and cooling, this one is not so cut and dry. One K-12 education customer commented that CiscoвЂ™s Smart Net is вЂњgold plated and blessed by Tibetan MonksвЂќ (i.e., it must be for what they charge for it!). While we have not delved in great detail into price comparisons of CiscoвЂ™s maintenance versus others, it is common knowledge in the industry that CiscoвЂ™s services are far-and-away the most expensive and the least discounted of any networking equipment vendor. We have already visited the topic of the вЂњ Cisco TaxвЂќ associated with the price premium it charges for equipment versus what, for example, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise charges, in other installments in this series. TCO = Equipment Cost + Maintenance Cost + Operational (power, cooling, etc.) Cost + Training Cost Here is a simplified yet reliable TCO formula that belies CiscoвЂ™s claim to offering the lowest TCO: Wikipedia defines Total Cost of Ownership as вЂњa financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirectВ costs of a product or system.вЂќ TCO is a financial tool that places a single value on the complete costs associated with the acquisition and operation of an item or system, including what might be considered hard costs (capital outlay), maintenance and operations, and soft costs, the most significant of which is training. Cisco often claims that it may charge a little more (a little?!) for its network switches than the competition, but when all things are considered, Cisco leads in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).