Any Costco fans out there?
I certainly am…for some things. I am also the first to admit that it took most of my entire lifetime to arrive at that point. There was just some unfounded stigma about using an item that wasn’t a name brand. Not to mention, I didn’t want my guests to see anything in my cabinets like that.
I suppose it’s not fair to single out Costco when I’m discussing house-branded products; they are simply the first to come to mind. Most stores do exactly the same thing—they will contract with a manufacturer to produce items for them and add their label. Costco has Kirkland. Target has Up & Up. Take that a step further….how about some of the brands of perfume, makeup, even clothing you find in the high-end retailers with the names of celebrities attached to them. Anyone believe that Mariah Carey went to her garage one day, donned an apron, and started concocting different mixtures of eye shadow? Did Liz Taylor do that with perfume?
While I’m having fun with rhetorical questions, let me toss a couple more at you….does $8 Tylenol, with 250mg of acetaminophen, relieve headaches any faster than a $3 store brand capsule with…wait for it…..250mg of acetaminophen?
The examples are endless yet, unfortunately, space here is not, so I’ll get to the point.
I already know you’re following me…I can hear you behind me…..
“He’s going to talk about third party compatible network parts, isn’t he?”
So here we are with network parts. None of the majors manufacture for themselves. They contract with a manufacturer to build them on their behalf and add a sticker with their logo on it. THAT manufacturer builds his parts to a set of specifications that are accepted industry-wide…it’s called a Multi-Source Agreement. This agreement defines operating characteristics that the parts must fall into. Well, guess what? The network parts you buy from us ALSO subscribe to the SAME Multi-Source Agreement! What we don’t subscribe to is the higher cost due to the ink that’s on the label.
Wrapping all of this up into a neat little package:
Certainly there is a time and a place for the original labeled parts with some customers…and that’s great….it’s another facet of our business. At the same time, however, not every company, every application, every data center will have the same requirements. Many find value in the compatible options that we offer. Many have been able to do more things/upgrade more areas of their data center and still stay under budget with our cost-effective alternatives.
Visit CablesAndKits to find all Cisco Original, compatible and third party SFPs to add to your network closet.