Let talk about the 800 pound gorilla in the room and the #1 reason to hate 
vendor locked optics.  Some vendors (yes, Cisco I'm looking at you) want to 
charge ridiculously high prices for optic that are identical to generic optics 
other than the vendor lock.  Maybe a better tactic would be to have the vendor 
explain to you why the vendor lock is necessary.  You are after all the 
customer and don't owe them any explanations.

Steven Naslund
Chicago IL

-----Original Message-----
From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Jérôme Nicolle
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2014 12:12 PM
To: nanog@nanog.org
Subject: A case against vendor-locking optical modules

Hello,

I'm having a discussion with Arista, trying to explain to them why I _can't_ 
buy any hardware unable to run with compatible optical modules.

My points are :

- I need specific modules, mostly *WDM and BiDi, some still unavailable in 
their product line

- I run at least two other vendors on every locations and can't stack up every 
spare optics for each of them, neither could remote-hands safely re-program 
optics to match a specific vendor when needed.

- I have an established relationship with a trusted optics supplier, providing 
support, warranty and re-coding hardware for their entire
(impressive) lineup. And this supplier is still 2-5x times cheaper than any 
vendor-labeled optics even with NFR-like discounts.

Based on these points, I discourage every customers of ever using locked-in 
equipments, and forbid them on my own network. Of course, Arista can't be 
pleased because their hardware never stepped chord in my customer's networks. 
But they seem to deliberatly miss my points every time the subject comes up.

What are other arguments against vendor lock-in ? Is there any argument FOR 
such locks (please spare me the support issues, if you can't read specs and 
SNMP, you shouldn't even try networking) ?

Did you ever experience a shift in a vendor's position regarding the use of 
compatible modules ?

Thanks !

--
Jérôme Nicolle
+33 6 19 31 27 14

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