Sometimes I think of all the effort it takes to make a good counterfeit of something, and how many really intricate things are effectively counterfeited. It would seem that with all the knowledge to copy some things so technically challenging, an effort would simply be made to be original, or just slightly different enough to be free from legal challenges.

Cisco routers are fairly complex pieces of equipment, with hardware and software not easily copied - possession of the device still not being an easy ’key to the kingdom’. The key has been copied, to some extent, as an account of ‘not-so-fabulous’ fakes is explained in Networkworld yesterday.

Certain routers are being offered for sale, at less than half the price of refurbished genuine units. The sales are taking place on e-bay - a place where it should be looked askance at most large ticket purchases.

Now Cisco is getting support calls from people wondering why things aren’t working as they should be, and why plug-in items are not being recognized by the routers. In many cases, a simple serial number check would avoid many pitfalls.

Caveat emptor is definitely one Latin phrase everyone should learn and understand. Multi-thousand dollar mistakes are hard to recover from in the corporate setting, and the time from ‘getting a great deal for the company’ to out the door because of gross incompetence can be very short.

Tags: cisco, counterfeit, routers, firewalls, serial numbers, alliance for grey market and counterfeit abatement