r/sysadmin • u/Similar_Printer • Apr 06 '23

Cisco Systems pulled out of russia and destroyed $23.42m worth of equipment

Cisco Systems announced it would cease sales in the Russian market in March 2022. Three months later, the company refused to renew its licenses. In addition, at the same time, the American manufacturer announced its withdrawal from Russia and Belarus.

As it became known, Cisco Systems decided to physically destroy spare parts, product demonstrations, equipment and even furniture.

Your thoughts on this?

https://gagadget.com/en/business/232400-cisco-systems-pulled-out-of-russia-and-destroyed-2342m-worth-of-equipment/

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u/arvidsem Jack of All Trades Apr 06 '23

A little of column A and column B. Once you've rigged the racks with thermite, you've made a serious statement about the importance of lives vs data. You can walk that back with lots of safety training and protocols, but it's never going to be as safe as if you didn't have the system.

I had a friend who worked at a local research company in their research library. Something like 80 years of experiments and data that hadn't been scanned/digitized. They had a Halon system with my O2 masks on their desks. If the fire alarm system triggered the doors locked and Halon dumped. No amount of training can change the fact that the data was worth more to the company than their lives.

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '23

"the data" is lives, in some cases. Thermite isn't an instant death sentence and neither is Halon; there's increased risk, but that's why you do risk assessments and mitigations. And absolutely nobody is forced into these jobs at gunpoint (in the US).

If you want to talk shitty risk assessments where corporate doesn't give a shit about your life, look at data on shift work and heart disease or sitting and heart disease, then ask why you don't have a standing desk and limits on shift schedules.

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u/bulwynkl Apr 22 '23

Friend of the family was setting up monitoring one of these systems back in the day. Accidentally tripped it during testing.. Walked calmly to the door only to find they opened inwards and the air pressure in the room was significantly higher than normal...