[ih] The linux router project and wifi routers

[Craig Partridge]

Perhaps helpful with the archaeology.

Several of the single digit employees at Cisco were former Stanford IT
folks who had worked on the routers.  And the routers were actively used
for research -- people were periodically making enhancements based on new
research and then getting them deployed in the Stanford routers.

I remember one person who leveraged the routers for research despairing as
all the folks who had supported his research were now at Cisco.

So, and purely speculating, there may have been concerns about a continuing
transfer of knowledge/ideas post any initial license as Stanford employees
who were engaged in improving the Stanford devices then went to Cisco, with
improvements in their heads.

Craig

On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 9:07 AM Guy Almes via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> Dave,
>    The word I heard went into some detail on the discounts, but I recall
> wondering why no mention was made of equity.  I hope your memory is
> correct and that Stanford did get some equity.
>    So, in itself, the "Stanford thought about suing them but didn't"
> story is not very interesting.
>    The more interesting thing would be why they were upset at cisco.
> Particularly given Tom's account stating that cisco had received a
> license during 1986.
>
>    By the way, I still recall my initial visit to cisco in March 1987.
> At the time, all of cisco was in a suite of offices and lab space on the
> second floor of a nondescript building in Menlo Park.  Len Bosack met me
> and stressed (a) the advanced nature of their routers vis a vis the
> competition and (b) his ambition for cisco.  Even though the office
> suite was loosely furnished, his Board Room included a map of the world.
>
>    We ended up placing a huge (seven routers) order with cisco and I
> never regretted it.  It was neat being able to call cisco to report a
> bug, getting a sngle-digit-employee-number person to answer the call and
> have a new version of the software without the bug by close of business
> that day.  Needless to say, that didn't last for more than a year or so.
>
>    But I also recall friends at Stanford being very critical of the
> cisco-Stanford relationship during this period, so it's definitely
> Internet history of interest.
>
>         -- Guy
>
> On 11/3/22 9:05 AM, Dave Crocker via Internet-history wrote:
> > On 11/3/2022 5:52 AM, Guy Almes via Internet-history wrote:
> >>   During spring 1987, however, when I was shopping for routers for an
> >> NSFnet regional network, I was made aware of quite a bit of
> >> uncertainty about whether Stanford was going to sue cisco over some
> >> Intellectual Property issues.  Evidently there was a settlement that
> >> gave Stanford a discount on buying cisco routers.
> >
> > Adding to the rumors...
> >
> > At the time, I heard all of the above, with the closure being that the
> > settlement was Stanford's getting some cisco shares.
> >
> > d/
> >
> > --
> > Dave Crocker
> > Brandenburg InternetWorking
> > bbiw.net
> >
> > --
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> > Internet-history at elists.isoc.org
> >
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