Perl vs C++

[reyjrar]

So I just started a new job, and yesterday I was talking to one of my co-workers about things they want me to do. One of things he mentioned was taking Cisco logs files, and making easy to use and easy to view web graphs of those logs. So, that's easy enough, and then he said "btw, do you know C++?" and I do, though I prefer to work in perl, and he said "good, cuz these log files might be terrabytes big, and in that case we're going to need c++"
Am I wrong in thinking that doesn't matter, being that Perl is the "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language" (slap me if I messed that up) it seems like terrabyte log files are what evey perl program craves for thanksgiving dinner ? :)