Cisco Supply Chain Issues Continue
Posted by Chris on March 15, 2010
Are your ASA’s still on backorder? Me too.
I’ve asked a couple of Cisco SE’s if they could share some insight into the long lead times on certain Cisco hardware. Nobody’s saying much, but one SE did mention that there were supply issues with a particular style of connector used in the ASA.
In the past week, we’ve also become aware of long lead times for UC500 series products, in particular the UC540. (Although, I did receive an email a while ago that the distributor was shipping them tomorrow) My wait for a UC540 hasn’t been nearly as bad as the ASA (three weeks for the UC 540) but it’s still frustrating.
Looking back at Cisco’s last quarterly report, they were already warning about potential issues in their supply chain.
“SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES, INCLUDING FINANCIAL PROBLEMS OF CONTRACT MANUFACTURERS OR COMPONENT SUPPLIERS, OR A SHORTAGE OF ADEQUATE COMPONENT SUPPLY OR MANUFACTURING CAPACITY THAT INCREASED OUR COSTS OR CAUSED A DELAY IN OUR ABILITY TO FULFILL ORDERS, COULD HAVE AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON OUR BUSINESS AND OPERATING RESULTS, AND OUR FAILURE TO ESTIMATE CUSTOMER DEMAND PROPERLY MAY RESULT IN EXCESS OR OBSOLETE COMPONENT SUPPLY, WHICH COULD ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR GROSS MARGINS”
I don’t think excess component supply is an issue right now. I’m no MBA but it seems they didn’t spool up the mfg process fast enough as demand increased toward the end of last year.
It’s a tough call. Play it to conservative and you end up with no product and lots of backorders. Too aggressive and you get stuck writing down unsold inventory.
If you can’t wait for an ASA5510, consider a 2900 series ISR as an alternative.
The 2911 has three integrated 10/100/1000 interfaces, allowing for inside, outside and DMZ zones when using the IOS firewall. Pricing is comparable to an ASA until you start adding more interfaces.
An additional single port 10/100 interface is $900 while a dual 10/100 interface will set you back $1900. A single 1000mbit fiber port is $2000. These are list prices so street price could be be 30%-40% less.
Additional Information
Network Security Features for Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 Platform
Supply Shortages Hit Cisco Lead Times
Adam said
We have been waiting for some 1805′s routers now for over a month. Have been told there is a supply issue.
Steve said
We ordered two 5510′s in late December and have a June delivery date as of today. We’re told not to expect new orders before the August-September time frame.
Adam said
Thanks Steve, Our supplier still has no clue when equipment will become available. You would think Cisco would have sorted this out a long time ago.
Steve said
We had the same problems with getting 6500 series switch modules too. It was so bad that we ended up going with Force10 for one of our new remote offices. Cisco just couldn’t ship. Now there’s talk of looking at Juniper firewalls if Cisco’s problems continue.
I think the most frustrating thing is that you get different stories about the cause of the shortages depending on who you talk to.
Adam said
Yeah, Juniper is good, i’ve never used one in a commercial environment, but have played with a few at home (5xp and 5xt). We did have a Watchguard 750e, and before we bought the ASA we looked at Fortinet which i was impressed with.
I am a Cisco fanboy, however their website seems to be useless, way too many broken links. If you contact support they seem to bounce you between departments.
Luckily for us there isn’t any networking equipment we need to buy soon so when the next renewals are due hopefully Cisco will have corrected this.
How did you get on with the Force10?