Ok, I get it. Cisco's long been seen as being a bit stodgy, especially when it comes to new product announcements. So, it was with great interest that I wanted to watch this self titled "viral marketing" campaign kick off today. Can someone call their own campaign "viral". Or rather, calling it that doesn't make it so, does it.
Anyway, the big announcement that warranted this interesting approach for Cisco? Was it something with Voice? Video perhaps? A cheap Teleprescence offering? No...maybe something cool from the Linksys purchase or SA? No. It was a big router.
Now, this is a cool box, don't get me wrong. Crazy fast, modular software, upgradeable features packages. All very cool. And I'm sure this new ASR will filter down to replace the ISR at some point. Right now, by Cisco's own admission it's targeted between the 7200 and the 7600 series. That puts it squarely in the really big Enterprise or Service Provider market.
How big do you think that target is? In dollar terms, probably pretty big. Perhaps this swings things back away from Juniper a little.
I have to wonder though, why on earth would they choose to do this new direction for a marketing campaign for something like this? Save the cool marketing campaigns for the younger folks that'll appreciate it. No doubt there are some younger CCIE's that'll be a part of buying these boxes. Somehow, I think the message is lost on the CEO/CIO's out there that are signing the checks for these boxes.
It sure is a good thing Cisco makes really good equipment.