One of my customers, Dave Berzins@Nucleus.com, took offense (not that I
blame him, sorry Dave) to my apparent attack on the PM3 and forwarded my
message to the PMusers list in retaliation. Not an appropriate use of the
PM Users list in my opinion, and giving me no opportunity to recall my
mistake, the result solicited lengthy responses from everyone right up to
the Director of sales from Livingston. Live and Learn. Duh!
There were a lot of references made to the fact that Capella does not
carry Livingston products any more. I think it's time the other side of
this story was told. This is MY account of what I saw happen, and now if
affected me as a sales rep on the street faithfully selling Livingston
products.=20
4 or so years ago, Capella HQ in SF introduced the Portmaster into the
market as the first Livingston distributor, and continued for 3-4 years
becoming their largest distributor in the world. I started off at Capella
in Canada selling Portmasters three years ago, I told and sold
portmasters to EVERYONE in Canada when no-one had any clue who Livingston
was for years, I worked with the very first ISP's in Calgary and all over
Canada to help them get going and it was the portmaster was ALWAYS the
lead product. They simply worked, were cost effective, and supported
RADIUS which I also wholeheartedly sold as a portmaster feature long
before it was adopted by everyone on the planet. Livingston was my
favorite Manufacturer bar none, they worked with us, sent us leads, we
worked with the customers, took technical calls because support was busy,
and sold portmasters to everyone to the tune of over a thousand
portmasters per month. They were the one Manufaturer that always
supported us, never sold around us, always came to see us, on and on and
on. Livingston was the manufacturer I trusted and liked the most.=20
Then something I never expected in a million years happened - Livingston
sent out an email to the PM USers list stating that Capella was no longer
an authorized reseller. Immediately, I received an Email from one of my
long-time Livingston customers copying me on the email. My first reaction
was that this must be a hoax, I subsequently learned that it was in fact
true. We were cut off from Livingston product, support, RMA's, everything
- we could not even fill existing orders. Many of my customers awaiting
product delivery were left stranded with their major supplier cut off.
Not fair to our customers. Why didn't Livingston just give the other
distributors more discount than us, continue selling direct and allow our
customers to transition over to the apparently new paradigm of
Livingston's business model. It seemed to ME to be an unnecessary
malicious attack against Capella - apparently in the works for some time
before the email. I guess Livingston did what they felt they had to do
for whatever reason they had to do it, which I can only guess the *real*
reason - not that really makes any difference now. :(
Congrats to Livingston on coming out of the gates in the Digital market
with a good product that works well from what I hear, and ranks right up
there with the rest of the Digital Network Access Servers. I'll continue
providing information and helping my customers select the right NAS for
them, unfortunately now I can't represent Livingston product. I can't see
how this a win for Livingston, their customers, or Capella.
There's my response to this issue, now you've heard the other side.
Before firing your quick witted replys to the entire list, please
consider the purpose of the PM Users list and whether anyone will benefit
from your response.=20
Regards, Greg :)
Thank you for working with Capella Worldwide Networking, Inc.,
"Internetworking Specialists" TECHNOLOGY TO THE PROVIDERS
Gregory F. Genge, President; Capella Networking Canada, Inc. =20
VP of Sales, Canada; Capella Worldwide Networking, Inc.
Toll Free 888-ALLEPAC, 888-255-3722 (Canada only)
(403) 571-5000 Main, 5003 Direct, 5005 Fax =20
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2R-1K3
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