Counterfeit Cisco Gear Showing Up In US

spazimodo writes to point out a Network World report on the growing problem of counterfeit networking equipment. The article surveys the whole grey-market phenomenon, which is by no means limited to Cisco gear — they just happen to be its biggest target. From the article: "Thirty cards turned out to be counterfeit... Despite repeated calls and e-mails to his supplier, Atec Group, the issue was not resolved... How did a registered Cisco reseller (also a platinum Network Appliance partner and gold partner to Microsoft and Symantec) acquire the counterfeit [WAN interface cards] in the first place?... Phony network equipment [has] been quietly creeping into sales and distribution channels since early 2004... Counterfeit gear has become a big problem that could put networks — and health and safety — at risk. 'Nobody wants to say they've got counterfeit gear inside their enterprises that can all of a sudden stop working. But it's all over the place, just like pirated software is everywhere,' says Sharon Mills, director of IT procurement organization Caucus."

Comments

Only Buy Genuine Cheesco and 3Corn Gear!

[spun]

Cheesco makes great networking equipment, and so does 3Corn. We use MircoSoft Windows OS, and it's never let us down! I mean, Linux is good for servers and all, in fact, I only use RedCap. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Sorny DVDs I want to watch on my MagnetBox TV.