Huawei has fired back after Cisco CEO John Chambers at the weekend identified Huawei as the networking company’s toughest rival, and claimed that the Chinese company doesn’t always “play by the rules” in areas such as intellectual property protection and computer security.
Chambers, speaking at a Wall Street Journal event in California, said Huawei is beginning to protect its own intellectual property as innovation rises, but security issues remain a problem.Huawei’s vice president for external affairs, William Plummer, responded by saying,:
“Such comments are unfortunate. Huawei has great respect for Cisco and, like Cisco, Huawei has earned trust and respect in the over 140 markets in which we do business, supporting over 500 telecommunications operators and connecting almost one-third of the world’s population.
“Huawei has been prevented by the Australian Government for bidding for any of the contracts on offer in the building of the National Broadband Network.