Cisco Case Analysis
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
January 1994 Cisco's legacy system surpassed its standard modification requirements and encountered a malfunction that resulted in corrupting the database. The company was almost completely shut down for two days. It became clear that the legacy system would not continue much longer and a solution was required.
Cisco was faced with the dilemma of selecting from three potential solutions to the system issue: 1) Upgrade to the new version of the legacy, 2) Implement a single integrated replacement of all applications in parts, 3) Implement a single integrated replacement of all applications as a whole. After careful analysis of the three alternatives I chose to support the third recommendation. Details defining this issue and supporting my recommendation can be found within the remainder of this document.
Cisco Systems, Inc. a technology-based company was founded in 1984. By 1993 Cisco had grown to a $500 million company. However, Pete Solvik the company's CIO projected growth to $5-billion plus per year in the future. The UNIX-based software package that had been used to support all core business processing could not sustain the current level and certainly not future growth.
By January 1994 the legacy system surpassed its standard modification requirements and encountered a malfunction that resulted in corrupting the database. The company was almost completely shut down for two days. It became clear that the legacy system would not continue much longer and a solution was required. The question that demanded attention within this case pertained to how the legacy system should be replaced.
The current system had coincided with Solvik's organizational and budgetary approach that allowed budgetary decisions to be made at the functional level, but left IT organizations reporting directly to him. This allowed the modifications required by the legacy system to be addressed by each functional area as required. Ultimately, these
January 1994 Cisco's legacy system surpassed its standard modification requirements and encountered a malfunction that resulted in corrupting the database. The company was almost completely shut down for two days. It became clear that the legacy system would not continue much longer and a solution was required.
Cisco was faced with the dilemma of selecting from three potential solutions to the system issue: 1) Upgrade to the new version of the legacy, 2) Implement a single integrated replacement of all applications in parts, 3) Implement a single integrated replacement of all applications as a whole. After careful analysis of the three alternatives I chose to support the third recommendation. Details defining this issue and supporting my recommendation can be found within the remainder of this document.
Cisco Systems, Inc. a technology-based company was founded in 1984. By 1993 Cisco had grown to a $500 million company. However, Pete Solvik the company's CIO projected growth to $5-billion plus per year in the future. The UNIX-based software package that had been used to support all core business processing could not sustain the current level and certainly not future growth.
By January 1994 the legacy system surpassed its standard modification requirements and encountered a malfunction that resulted in corrupting the database. The company was almost completely shut down for two days. It became clear that the legacy system would not continue much longer and a solution was required. The question that demanded attention within this case pertained to how the legacy system should be replaced.
The current system had coincided with Solvik's organizational and budgetary approach that allowed budgetary decisions to be made at the functional level, but left IT organizations reporting directly to him. This allowed the modifications required by the legacy system to be addressed by each functional area as required. Ultimately, these