[ih] The linux router project and wifi routers

[John Day]

Catching up.

Speaking of bugs, I heard a rumor that to get more speed cisco routers didn’t bother locking out interrupts while moving packets in and out of queues.  Any truth to it?

> On Nov 3, 2022, at 11:23, the keyboard of geoff goodfellow via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> 
> in furtherance of Guy's relating that "... 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..."
> 
> it was related to yours truly -- by a "a sngle-digit-employee-number
> person" -- when we were driving by Len & Sandy's house one day in Menlo
> Park that the "secret" to cisco's expeditious customer support was (1) that
> the entire engineering staff was on the customer support email address and
> thus would see customer "issues" as they were reported and would thereby
> directly attend to their "fixage" as they came in and (2) that the 24/7 800
> # phone line -- after hours -- rang a phone at Len's bedside...
> geoff
> 
> On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 8:07 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
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Internet-history mailing list
>>> Internet-history at elists.isoc.org
>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> Geoff.Goodfellow at iconia.com
> living as The Truth is True
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