That is, for how long will it stay afloat? I wish it was different, but I really don’t see any hope on the horizon that things could get better here.
Moreover, I have a feeling that the more they are trying to 'fix' this company, the deeper it sinks.
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RB will survive as long as TB can continue to extract their fee on revenue. It’s a cash cow for them.
Don’t you people see the writing on the wall? The company is just putting on different shades of lipstick on the same pig in hopes of some id--t to scoop it up. That’s it.
Riverbed's customer base and employee count will likely continue to shrink over time. The problem is not even a fire-sale is possible at this point - not much worth buying. The "Riverbed" brand itself is now thought of as a dinosaur by most other vendors as well as customers. Tell people when you interview at other companies that you work at Riverbed - something that people used to be impressed with - now its "why are you still working for that dinosaur?" A lot of the folks still here think people on the outside will be impressed because of the titles that are now easy to come by but when it's time to find another job it will be "but you were doing that at Riverbed when they became a has-been".
Leaving soon myself (should have done so a while back before the coorparate reputation became so tarnished) - fighting my way past the stigma of still being a Riverbed employee.
OPNET is not a name synonymous with “cloud”. Aternity never established itself in the EUE space since SaaS and API providers already do it. Riverbed is a name that is almost forgotten.
None of the Riverbed leadership has ever managed a cloud or SaaS company before. I think they read books or talked to people to learn how modern orgs are ran but they, themselves are outdated.
I suggest leadership start getting your tech certs because they seriously need to wake up and figure out what modern tech does and what customers seriously need.
Riverbed's entire machinery is focused on traditional on premise enterprise problems. Sales, Engineering, Marketing, Support, Enablement, all of it. Riverbed can change, but it takes a ton of time and money to do so. Some people are change adverse and want their comfortable role/teams/responsibilities to continue. It'll be a challenge for Riverbed (or any company in a similar predicament.)
What do you mean by "survive"? Will there be a company called Riverbed with most of the same people doing most of the same things? No. We've lost too many good people and too much institutional knowledge for that, and our main markets are drying up fast. But there might be a smaller company called Riverbed moving into an adjacent space with the help of its existing deployed footprint, if we can move quickly and intelligently. A talented, motivated team with decisive management could do it with some effort.
I'll, uh, leave it at that.
Riverbed has to rebrand to survive. The Riverbed/Aternity reintegration is a good time to do it. Maybe bring back the OPNET name.
Everyone still around is either just collecting a paycheck or using the chaos to get promoted and land a better next job. It's really sad to see for those who have been around a long time. It used to be a great company and still is in many ways. We just don't have (and won't develop) the products that customers want.
At most, I give it 5 more years.