Cisco and John Chambers: Give the guy a break!!

Although names like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have become common terms associated with modern technology, there is another player who, until recently, was very seldom known outside of fortune 500 companies and nerd circles. The third wheel in the triad of I.T. muscle is John T. Chambers.
Mr. Chambers has steadily changed the face of technology as we know it since 1991 when he came aboard as the Senior VP of Worldwide Sales and Operations for Cisco Systems Inc. Arguably the biggest network and communications manufacturer in history. Bringing great success to Cisco was, and still appears to be, John’s number one goal. An article in The Business Insider, speaking of John’s beginnings at Cisco Systems states, “Over the next four years, he facilitated Cisco's growth from a $70 million to a $1.2 billion” (Blodget, 2011) . John was promoted again in 1995 when he stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer. Since then, Cisco has seen astronomical growth.
In 2000, Cisco's market value went past the $450 billion mark. It ranked third in worldwide company value behind Microsoft and General Electric. And for a short period in late March, Cisco actually reached a total market capitalization of $555 billion and was the highest ranking company in the world. (Garza, 2011)
With statistics like these, one can only imagine that a pretty amazing tycoon must be responsible for this. Claiming huge advancements in the way that the World does business and even paving the way for the Electronic Health Record movement, Cisco certainly has the right to boast. The tech giant also has partnership programs all over the world to encourage educational growth and job skill development. After all of this, why has the media attacked Mr. Chambers so fiercely?
To fully understand the problem, one must first understand the reasoning behind the cause. Cisco has amassed a large amount of its own wealth from taking on many small companies. In the business world, this is called an acquisition. This is most common when we are talking about a large corporation that has the financial muscle to buy up competition and control their particular market. In order for this practice to be successful, a corporation cannot just acquire another business and let it lay stagnant. In order to keep these other companies going, management is necessary. Without this leadership, any business is doomed to fail.
However, what happens when the corporate takeovers become to frequent and all of the sudden, only half of the actual revenue generated is from the original business? Normally, this wouldn’t happen, as most companies are a little more careful when it comes to additions. Mr. Chambers, on the other hand, has such an aptitude for management and such a drive for success that he has thrown caution to the wind on multiple occasions. Ventures like the UMI, a consumer grade videoconferencing “solution”, and the Flip Video Camera were huge failures. Sure they brought the numbers up for a quarter or two and maybe even gained a little popularity but for the most part, hurt more than helped. Being the great business pioneer that he is, Mr. Chambers decided to implement a new style of management. Using mostly senior staff members, the CEO formed multiple committees to rule over just about everything imaginable. Some of the senior staff would actually spend a third of their time sitting on one or more of these groups. While this may sound ridiculous, this revolutionary way of thinking is not without good intention. The idea was to streamline the decision making process and allow specific concentrations where it is needed.
Unfortunately, this practice has left the decision making process in shambles, leaving upper management distraught to say the least. One writer stated,
“Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal detailed a management structure at Cisco that was so byzantine and bureaucratic that it prompted us to wonder aloud whether John Chambers had lost his mind. (Basically, Chambers was requiring hundreds of Cisco's top managers to spend at least a third of their time sitting on committees.)
And it turned out that Chambers had lost his mind.” (Blodget, 2011)
All of these misguided ventures are quickly becoming very public failures in the eyes of shareholders. This can, of course, be a fatal error. In early July, Mr. Chambers announced that Cisco may be slashing ten thousand jobs. According to his press release, this is intended to “streamline business” and aid in a reformation and restructure process that is, in theory, going to resuscitate Cisco’s palpitating heart.
Unfortunately, the C.E.O.’s promises are not received in good faith, but with harsh words and antipathy. Many are calling for his demotion and even more are begging for his complete resignation. Sadly, many people including shareholders are failing to realize that while John Chambers is the Chief Executive of the corporation, there are hundreds of managers and other leaders that are constantly helping him steer Cisco and keep everything copacetic. It seems hardly fair to blame a bad market share or outlook on one person that has a payroll, one could call a population. People are constantly pulling strings and making decisions that affect the company. John Chambers is simply a figurehead. When one is examining a company this size, it is most easily compared to a government. Granted, the United States has one Chief Officer who sits as the President of the entire country, but only a fool would assume that the National Leader makes ALL of the choices in regards to the welfare of the country. That is totally absurd and the situation with Cisco is equally ridiculous.
It is simply a case of people being afraid of their own financial well being and fiscal future. People in this situation naturally need someone to point a finger at and Mr. Chambers just happens to be holding a bull’s-eye. Although it hardly seems like justice, modern day society would hardly give resounding, “oh well, he did his best.” Over money, they would rather burn him at the stake.
This is a harsh reality, but reality nonetheless. It would be a nice change however, if someone were to stand up and say, “How many of you could do what he does, for even an hour?” Rest assured, pin drops could be heard around the world. Every time this man shakes a hand, it affects hundreds if not thousands of people. That sort of pressure would leave a lesser man in the fetal position looking for his “mommy.” Bottom line, the spectators need to work with Mr. Chambers instead of against him. After all, if the world remembers correctly, no one has complained about all of the revenue he generated for them over the past twenty years, right? So give the guy a break and let him fix it. Mr. Chambers, you can do it!







References
Blodget, H. (2011, May 13). THE TRUTH ABOUT CISCO: John Chambers Has Failed. Retrieved July 14, 2011, from The Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-csco-john-chambers-has-failed-2011-5
Garza, G. (2011, January 9). The History of Cisco. Retrieved July 8, 2011, from Bright Hub: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/enterprise-security/articles/65663.aspx
Kaine, C. (2011, July 13). Cisco: John Chambers Admits It Was Too Fat . Retrieved July 13, 2011, from Seeking Alpha: http://seekingalpha.com/article/279274-cisco-john-chambers-admits-it-was-too-fat

The Battle of The Business Class Notebooks

     Alright, here we are again, still covered in snow. However, I did promise some laptop insight and I'm not one to back out of a computer discussion. 

     In the first corner, weighing in at 5.17lbs, we have a Dell Latitude E6500. Very sharp.  Some key notes that I would like to point out is that the Latitude boasts a hard shell (aluminum bi-product) and has a rather luxurious feel.  Sleek body lines and very solid but lightweight at the same time.  Sort of like a Mercedes. Intel Core 2 Duo with a T-8500 and 4 GB of ram (space for 8) gives enough muscle to get by and things like the backlight keyboard and the mysterious blue halo on the ac adapter make for a very cosmetically appealing and hard working machine.

     Our second contender is also one of Dell's biggest rivals.  The HP Probook 6455b.  Having been revamped in the past couple of years, this has also proved to be a very satisfying machine.; While there are multiple hardware options for this machine, the one I am currently using has an AMD Phenom II N620 @ 2.8ghz with 4 GB of ram also. While it doesn't have the same sleekness that the Dell has, it does feel surprisingly sturdy but elegant at the same time. The Probook also uses an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 onboard graphics card.  This has also proved to be very nice.  

     All in all, it's a trade off. Both machines come bundled with more than enough of that famous, cumbersome, proprietary software that we all know and love.  The Dell has a backlight keyboard sure, but the Probook has HP quick launch buttons which I actually use quite often.  It's nice to bring up MS Outlook or Firefox by just running your finger over the led.  There was one other issue that the HP seems to address, for me at least.  The Dell uses a rather standard keyboard but HP wanted to do something different.  On the Probook, the keys on the keyboard are almost flat and totally inset into the pc. It makes for a very comfortable typing experience.  

     So, yes, they are both business class computers. Yes they are both very nice, but for me, I think I will leave my Dell at home for fun and keep the HP in business.

Happy hacking,

Paul

Why has technology forsaken me?

Hello everyone and thank you for coming,

     I'm here to share a rather sad story for anyone that will listen (although judging from the immeasurable amount of comments that my blog receives, I may very well be talking to myself, lol).  In the off chance that there is someone out there in cyberspace, let us begin.  For anyone that knows me outside of my penguin suit, you are well aware that I take knowledge and technology very seriously.  I am a lifelong fan of all things that involve learning and expanding one's intelligence.  I myself am drawing near to the close of my second try in college. I'm much older and wiser now than the last time and I have to say that overall, I have had a great experience.  I have amassed a great deal of knowledge regarding information technology, security and networking not only from standard teaching methods but in the interaction with instructors and fellow students, with whom I have also shared many lessons of life.  This is not to say that I have recently had a bad experience but an experience none the less.

   If you know anything about my academic career you would know that I am very much involved with the company, Cisco Systems.  My degree is actually a supplement to an educational program that the company itself oversees.  Because I have been in direct contact with Cisco ideas, theories, and news for the better part of the last two years, I naturally gravitated towards the recent headlines regarding the network giant, for a paper that I was instructed to write.

    Yes, I am referring to my last blog post regarding Mr. John Chambers.  John is currently the standing C.E.O. of the corporation.  As I wrote my paper, it dawned on me that anyone that would read my blog here would love an article like that.  Money, drama and Cisco!  After all, John Chambers is like the Bruce Wayne of Networking Technology, right? Was it a foolish decision to post my academic endeavor on the internet for all to see?  Hardly.  That very thing is the freedom of speech which so many of us utilize to spread worthwhile ideas.  So then, what is all of the fuss about?

      Out of respect for my school as well as my instructors, I will not go into any details other than the fact that our English Department utilizes a web based tool to check student assignments for plagiarism.  Even across the web, I can hear the wheels squeaking and slowly starting to roll in everyone's mind.

1) Yes, my school thinks that I plagiarized an essay that was found, rather easily on the internet.

2) Yes, I DO feel like a moron.  I plagiarized myself, wouldn't you?

3) No, I don't feel like I did anything wrong, and....

4) Yes, maybe I should have told my professor that I was going to use my spectacular paper as a blog AND as an assignment before I submitted the document to him.

5) Yes, I am glad that my blog showed up so easily in a search engine (normally a very exciting thing!)

    Like everyone knows, hindsight is 20/20 and rest assured I will not shoot myself twice in the same foot. Now, I may use the same gun, but surely not the same foot. Hopefully, this matter will be resolved quickly as I would hate for a poor decision to tarnish my educational reputation, but only time will tell.  I just wanted anyone reading this to know that all works presented on this blog, unless otherwise noted, are the sole property of NetLock IT Systems, c/o Paul G**far. (I have to remain pseudonymous to some extent; it's the internet for crying out loud).  That being said, no works published here may be copied, referenced, sold, or used in other way without the express written permission of the author.  If for some ridiculous reason, you do want to reference something I have said while on my virtual soapbox, feel free to leave a comment here and I will be in touch.

Thank you and God Bless,

Paul M. ****** (ha-ha thought I was going to spill the beans didn't ya!)

F.Y.I., while this is a technology blog, I understand that some may land here in a misguided search attempt for "Matlock" or something to that effect.  For anyone that doesn't know, I use a pen name "Xunil Urug".  I can hear some of you grumbling already. That's not my space name given to me on the 10th moon of Xyzop, and I don't like Star Trek or live in my mother's basement so let’s put that rumor to rest lol.  If you transpose the letters, it actually spells Linux Guru.  Linux is an operating system much like Windows or Mac OSX but better....ok, ok, you get the point.  I'll save that rant for next time.

-Paul