Seeing more and more Cisco phones in the nationwide chain type stores.... Just saw local FEDEX/KINKOS changed as well as Walgreens switching out in our area. For better or worse this only helps Cisco sales since consumers/business owners are seeing them in more locations (besides in TV shows). It's getting a little harder selling against them.

The FedEx/Kinkos in our area switched from Avaya to Cisco a while ago. I think the local Walgreens are still using Nortel.

But the $50k question is how well are these Cisco phone systems working out for them?

And you have to remember that those cisco phones were probably as cheap if not cheaper then a nortel or avaya. Specially when you consider that the franchise bought 50,000 of them at once.

And I won't even mention the corporate mantra that no one gets fired for buying microsoft or cisco.

They dropped off the map around here for quite a while. Today, I was given the news that one of my biggest customers is taking the jump to Crisco too. The good news is that they are hiring us to install the redundant network cabling for all of the 30+ locations, since their Crisco "engineer" suggested that they not share the same LAN.

It sure would have been nice if they had offered us the opportunity to provide a proposal, huh?

I could think of a few ways to sabotage that install, Ed.
You could have at least been given the chance to quote them the appropriate string and cans system to match the Cisco

Can I Still Call Out? = CISCO

Any other questions?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Yep, down here the Walgreens are switching out as well as the Fed-Ex/Kinkos (which had Nortel). I see more and more as well....

Steve

Thats so funny. I think this "engineer" needs to google VLAN's.

Bashing aside, the reality is they are working decent enough for these corporations to switch out (even new locations that had Nortel installed under 6 months ago..). Also found out Verizon is offering Cisco solutions...
Good deal for you Ed, at least you get to make some money and can walk away, You won't have to deal with the potential issues they may have. And if they do, you can charge them to check it out....

There existing LAN is probably not up to spec (router, switches etc.) to support an IP Solotion with proper QOS.

I am sure the Cisco guy did some testing to come to that conclusion.

Remember...

That's funny!!!

Great graphic, Dagwood!!

Guys any IP solution is only going to be as good as the Data wire it is riding on. Take note that is why Cisco likes their phones to be on a newly installed seperate network so they don't have the data killing their systems. In the meantime we have all the other manufactures selling us on the idea that we can install their VoIP solution onto the customers existing data network thus they have crappy service and we look bad.

To succeed in VoIP do as CISCO does,,,,Here Kitty Kitty!!!!

We have come up against Cisco a few times. The reason they seem to be coming back is because they have to give most of the equipment away and all of the install.
If they see that it doesn't look like they are going to get the deal during the bid process, they will throw in the kitchen sink just to get the job.

I hate to ask this, but... anybody know what is involved in becoming cisco certified?

classes, studying on your own (with simulators and/or equipment) and taking the Cisco test. It takes a lot of time and dedication.

What type of Cisco certification do you want?

If just voice to install small systems its pretty easy.

See, Cisco loves to have you install a second data network to support their voice systems. That defeats the whole purpose of their system. Supposedly the sales pitch is "wherever there is a phone there can be a computer and wherever there is a computer there can be a phone". Sure sounds the same as "one network for the computers and one network for the phones" is what the normal standard voice/data situation is before Cisco thought they could "do" voice.

Enjoy your Cisco classes, but get all their network certs you can, you'll need them.

Good Luck and please, please, don't kill any kittens...... :rofl:

Having both on the same network works fine if you know what you're doing, but the problem is that most of the people putting it in don't.

There are terrible security vulnerabilities to poor installations on the same network (mostly with packet sniffers). As much as I agree that everything on the one network is how it's supposed to be, I'd almost rather see them install it on a second network than to do it wrong on the first one. Lanecomm is also correct that it's a good possibility that their current network infrastructure would not support the proper QoS on top of the security requirements.

Of course, the counter to that is that if you don't really have the infrastructure or knowledge/background to begin with, why do this at all. There are not a lot of real benefits to VoIP that I can think of outside of the option of an off-premise extension over a VPN.

It's a buzzword, so it's always considered an upgrade.

ictelco:

You can take 2 tests for the CCNA or 1 test that covers it all. To become certified it is recommended that you start off by taking either the CCENT and move up from there.

I would recommend that you purchase a Cisco 877 / 851 from ebay for a couple hundred dollars instead of using the simulation programs. A bonus is that you can add that into your home network once you are finished with the exams.

Use CBTNuggets, Train Signal, Cisco Press books, and go to the Cisco web site for your studies. Dedicate at least 1 hour a day minimum to study and take the test when you are ready.

They are not easy to pass and the questions work more on theory than black and white answers. If that makes any sense?

From there you can move up to CCNAV this cert(640-460) covers the VoIP aspect of Cisco. Go to the Cisco web site for more detail.

Hope this helped you some.

KLD:

Can I Still Call Out? = CISCO

That's classic... I laugh every time I say it.

If you're new to Cisco's certification programs, I'd recommend going the two test route for the CCNA. The first will earn you your CCENT, and the second the full CCNA. Taking it as two tests isn't easier as far as content is concerned, but it's much easier when it comes to time. The all-in-one was really difficult in terms of time, especially with subnetting. If you're doing that exam, you better be able to subnet in your head very quickly or else you'll run into problems finishing the exam.

The majority of the Cisco stuff I know (which is not a whole lot, just enough to get by) was taught to me in high school tech ed classes. I enjoyed working with the equipment and did very well in the basic stuff we did in class. I've got some newer Cisco gear in my shop now and I'm trying to teach myself more.

That's great if you have access to the equipment. The great thing about CCNA level Cisco is that you can pick up a cheap router or two and a cheap switch and practice pretty much everything.

One tip to those who are practicing on Cisco equipment is that if you assign a network to a loopback address on a router, it is considered a hop away. That means that if you take one router and connect it to a second router you can advertise the loopback interfaces with routing protocols to simulate a much larger network than what you're looking at (thus saving costs of getting other routers). It's great for working with the fundamentals of RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP.

I Blame the show "24"

actually had a customer tell me they couldnt wait to get the phones from 24, and he was so dissapointed when it didnt have the same ring tone... (they still have the toshiba pbx installed so they can do a page)

Cisco is a marketing monster... they have the best looking phones and are smart enough to make sure you see them everywhere! doesnt matter that it takes a week of programming to make them do what every other phone system does by default...

Toshiba dealers for years have begged toshiba to let people know they also do phones.
I wish they would just add phones to one of their billion dollar ad campains that showcases laptops,TVs and every other electronic product under the sun.

A friend of mine ripped the the ring tone from the show and deployed it in his company's VoIP network. Maybe they had demanded to have it.

Corect, in that CISCO may want a second network, and if it's there, sure use it for VoIP but in our case 99% of the installations are done on the same network that the PC's reside on, and of course poor call quality comes from a poor network. Most issues we see come down to a chattering NIC somewhere, multiple switches connected haphazardly and multiple boxes offering DHCP. Just like TDM solutions, not all pure VoIP is CISCO, some actually work (IPitomy) and work rather well. Some applications offer better opportunities for a VoIP solution than others and it's easy to knock something you don't know (hell I did it too). The "Dark Side" gets brighter every day! :dance:

PS - we don't require a VPN for a remote phone or branch office installations.

Me too.

Doesn't Cisco deploy their call manager express on the customer's router itself?

Seems this is a fairly dated thread. How many of you in the past few years passed your CCNA? Did the certification provide better contract or job opportunities? I attended Cisco Acadamy in Seattle in 1999 but did not take the ccna test. I have had a few times, used my training but not having the certification may have limited my job opportunities.

I think times have changed alot since 1998. I assume there are far far more CCNA certified techs and U imagine the wages have come down. I have considered taking ccna training either on my own, or in a class again. I have downloaded GNA bin ios emulator just need to download some where, previous version which I just read online, 12.4 off of the net.

I am hungry for knowledge and more advanced experience. Cisco will help and it will cut down on the total cost of a new install for a client if I do not hire a cisco engineer.

And since it's a 3 year old post let it retire. If you wish to start a new thread please feel free to do so.