Cisco squares up to unauthorised market

After suffering £12m fraud, vendor's European channel head says partners are demanding a tough stance

Ready to hit back: Cisco claims unauthorised activity has moved across Europe

Cisco's European channel leader has claimed the vendor has a clear mandate from partners to get "extremely tough" on the unauthorised market.

The networking monolith has come out fighting after it emerged last week that it had been the victim of a £12m warranty fraud. Speaking exclusively to ChannelWeb, Thierry Drilhon, Cisco's vice president of worldwide channels for European markets, claimed the vendor is continuing to collaborate closely with the City of London police. Four people were arrested in connection with the case last month.

"Fraud is extremely important for us. It has always been a key priority," he said. "Our partners expect us to be a policeman."

Drilhon said problems stemming from the unauthorised market were not being exacerbated by the recession, but stressed that the threat continues to evolve.

"I do not think [the problem has worsened]. It has just been a question of [unauthorised activity] moving from one part of Europe to another," he said.

He added that Cisco has invested at a global level in tackling the grey market.

"The worldwide team in charge of brand protection has been significantly increased to really look at all the challenges and issues within the market."

Drilhon claimed that partners demand Cisco continues to crack down on the unauthorised market.

"I can tell you this is one of the mandates we receive from our partners," he said. "We are extremely tough on it."

Look out for more from ChannelWeb's exclusive interview with Drilhon over the coming days, including the channel bigwig's take on datacentre and cloud technologies, partner collaboration, the changing face of the IT industry and his plans for Cisco's partners across the continent.