How to buy from Cisco and/or Juniper when you're a small company? [closed]
I find it quite difficult to buy from Cisco and Juniper :
- no price-tags can be found on their websites, let alone buy-online capabilities
- a "buy cisco" google-search will mostly return websites selling used equipment. I've not found a single dealer in my geographic area (ie France).
- If I understand correctly, the typical way to buy new equipment is to ask to a Cisco (or Juniper) "partners", but those partners seems to be security professionals, who want to audit my system (not for free, of course), advise me on what to buy, and then sell me what they advised me to buy. .
I'm used to buy other IT equipment on the internet (such as servers), and any query will return hundred of dealers, both online and physical. Am I missing something? What's the standard way to buy from Cisco and Juniper ?
I'm just looking for a trust-able online dealer which would let me compare prices and buy my equipment online !
When we buy from companies that don’t sell directly, we usually talk to a large company like Dell or CDW. If you are a small or medium business, someone like Dell can give you an account representative who can help you find the products you need, but rarely has them on their website for online purchase. CDW does let you order online, but that doesn’t help you in France. There must be a similar large reseller in France.
The other alternative is to talk to your ISP or colocation provider. For us, AT&T can usually get us networking equipment at decent prices.
I used to run the Cisco consultancy at a large 'partner' and it wasn't much easier to buy from them in that situation either!
I've looked at your profile but couldn't work out which country you're in, if you let me know I'll try and rustle up a few country-specific dealers/partners who might not give you the whole sales pitch :)
CDW will sell you Cisco stuff (at least they have always been able to provide the parts/licenses/support contracts) that companies I have been with have needed.
Suggestion: don't bother with their site for pricing or as the definitive source of what they carry. Call them up, get a business rep and have them put together quotes for you.