Customers have been quick to voice their concerns after Cisco CEO and chairman John Chambers floated the idea of decoupling the sale of IOS software, network hardware and SMARTnet maintenance contracts earlier this month.

By breaking software out as a separate item, Chambers said customers would have a clearer idea of what software they're buying and have more options for mixing services with hardware and software. The idea comes as the company continues its push to become more focused on the applications riding on top of the network pipes and plumbing the vendor supplies.

"More than half of our engineers are software engineers, yet we sell [software] like a hardware product," Chambers said. "Whereas all the major software companies in the world charge major amounts for upgrades and regular things and customers don't even blink about that in terms of the upgrades."

While IOS is basically free as part of the router cost, users pay 12 percent to 15 percent of the cost of the hardware on an annual basis for a SMARTnet support contract, which provides support, equipment replacement, software bug fixes and upgrades.

"I wouldn't be a big fan of it," Tweed Shire Council's network administrator Chris Peate, said. "The base licence serves our purposes well and getting slugged for the advanced licence is [already] a concern."