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Thread: cisco vs. nortel

  1. #1
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    cisco vs. nortel

    I have a friend that always gives me crap on how nortel is so much better than cisco. He says cisco is inferior and costs twice as much as his nortel.

    I was trying to find some articles out on the net to back me up but I am at a loss. It is really dry out there.

    Any help or thoughts would be much appreciated.

  2. #2
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Pretty irrelevant I would say. If it does the job and is reliable that is all you really look for.

    A couple of years back there were big rumours of a partnership between Cisco and Nortel, but nothing really came of it. A few days ago Alcatel and Lucent announced they were getting it together (for real!).

    This will put pressure on both Nortel and Cisco to find bedmates. Siemens looks like being one of the players in contention right now.

    Basically, the market is pretty stagnant and the old established outfits have been taking a real hammering from new Chinese competition, who can really undercut them, particularly in the far eastern markets.

    If you take the Far East and Africa, you have to be looking at around a half of the World's population in a market that is strongly price driven, but is growing rapidly.

    As the saying goes: Watch this space"

    He says cisco is inferior and costs twice as much as his nortel.
    If that were true they would no longer be in business. Tell your friend he will never make a Market Analyst

  3. #3
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    Hey Hey,

    You have to look beyond just the device operation for this... because there are a couple of arguments here.

    1. Nortel developped many of the advances in networking and networking technologies that we enjoy today...
    2. Nortel is also a big player in the PBX market (Meridians are in use in a lot of places)... Cisco is getting involved now but it's all VoIP with things like CallManager.
    3. Nortel has the combined knowledge of Northern Telecom (Hense Nortel) and Bay Networks.
    4. Nortel has the advantage of SiteManager... Fairly user friendly GUI Software. Cisco doesn't really have this equivalent...
    5. Cisco has a fairly nice CLI... the console is rather usable and easy to navigate.... Nortel on the other hand, well let's just say that BCC (their CLI... isn't overly nice).
    6. Cisco is larger, has more "certified professionals" (Although that bears the age old joke... "How do you get the CCNA off your front steps?" "Pay him for the pizza.")

    There's no way to define a clear cut winner.... I can tell you though that the Nortel NetKnowledge program offers much more information on Networking and Networking Protocols than the Cisco CCNA. Which is more of an advertising program in comparison..

    Peace,
    HT

  4. #4
    Right turn Clyde Nokia's Avatar
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    Over the last 3-4 years a lot of companies have been ditching Cisco in favour of Notel - maybe just on a cost issue alone - Cisco are a tad more pricy than Nortel - Operationaly I wouldnt say there is much difference in between the two - But for ease of use/configuration etc Cisco wins hands down!

  5. #5
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    Originally posted here by Nokia
    Over the last 3-4 years a lot of companies have been ditching Cisco in favour of Notel - maybe just on a cost issue alone - Cisco are a tad more pricy than Nortel - Operationaly I wouldnt say there is much difference in between the two - But for ease of use/configuration etc Cisco wins hands down!
    Only if you're configuring both through the CLI.... Nortel's SiteManager kicks Cisco's ass

    Peace,
    HT

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