Two things stand in their way, in my opinion. First, Cisco itself, a formidable competitor, isn't about to roll over and hand the market to anyone. Because of a combination of bad luck and some bad calls on product development, Cisco has hit one of those rough patches that all companies go through where its products temporarily lag competitors' offerings. And there's no doubt that this lag is stretching on for longer than Cisco and its investors had hoped. For example, Cisco had planned to leapfrog competitors in the optical switch market by using technology acquired in its 1999 acquisition of Monterey to build an all-optical switch.
Cisco disputes the report, however.
If true, that would be a setback, but it doesn't mean that Cisco won't be able to close at least some of the product gap with companies such as Redback, Ciena, Extreme Networks, Sycamore Networks, and Juniper Networks. A new generation of high-end routers just introduced by Cisco, for example, closes some of the distance between Cisco and Juniper Networks. Cisco is by all measures a much tougher and smarter competitor for these next-generation companies than any of the competitors Cisco vanquished on its way to the top. The Next Cisco will have a much tougher fight on its hands than the current Cisco did as it clawed its way to market dominance. Companies such as Juniper Networks and Extreme Networks have gained an edge over Cisco by concentrating on specific markets.