Transit Tactic 10 - Capture Content and Access Customers

Excerpts from The Internet Peering Playbook: Connecting to the Core of the Internet

One ISP deployed trial "loaner" gear into its production network. In this way the ISP leveraged free equipment, free technical support, and free delivery by an enthusiastic sales person. This tactic is shown graphically in Figure 3-12.

Deploy loaner gear into production

Figure 3-12 - Tactic 12 - Deploy "trial" gear into production network.

Notes from the field.

Deploying Trial Gear Into Production

I visited a (now bankrupt) large-scale tier 2 ISP at its headquarters. I saw its deployment staging area in a strip mall near Detroit. For months, this ISP had fended off a Cisco salesperson who had been trying to reclaim a large core router that was supposed to be in the ISP’s remote test lab. Actually, this router was installed and had been operating in the production network for 6 months. There were claims of card failures that required retesting before accepting for purchase, claims of test-lab delays, budget cycle issues, etc. Before this router was returned to Cisco it had been in full service for over a year. That scenario will keep your costs down.