The Jury’s Still Out On Cisco’s Server Plans

Cisco’s converged data and storage networking requires Cisco’s Data Centre Ethernet (DCE), Mehta said, thus eliminating freedom of choice with a sole-source Cisco-only server and network.

“This puts at risk integration and interoperability with vast existing installations. The rest of the industry is working on an open approach called Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) using IEEE’s Data Centre Bridging (DCB) standards,” Mehta said.

Research director Jim Frey of Enterprise Management Associates told eWEEK that he sees two key implications for the networking market.

“First, this sets a new high-water mark for integrating networking technologies more tightly into computing and storage architectures – something only Cisco is in a position to pull off – that may represent a true second generation of convergence (first gen was voice/data networking),” Frey said.

“Secondly, this aggressive move into computing raises the likelihood that other blade providers, most notably HP and IBM, will seek to find and energise alternatives to Cisco. HP has a good option with their ProCurve products, but IBM does not have an immediate answer. In the end, it will force competitive innovation in networking technologies, which is good for everyone.”

Is there a danger that Cisco could possibly taking its eye off the ball in networking, since it’s now venturing into new territory in the data centre?

“Cisco is certainly not taking their ‘eye off the ball’; they are merely pushing forward in a direction that they believe they must in order to survive the constant forces of commoditisation in the networking industry,” Frey said.

“By expanding into voice and video, they diversified and moved up the stack. By adding computing to their data centre solutions, they accomplish the same. Routing and switching in themselves are not growth markets for them – blade computing is a whole new frontier.”

Even with this move, Frey said, Cisco will not be providing “all things data centre; however, they will provide another key piece to complement their strength in data centre networking and network security.

“What this does represent is a compelling new set of technology options that will certainly change the landscape of both data centre computing and networking,” Frey said.

Principal analyst Galen Schreck of Forrester Research agreed with Frey on the point about corporate focus.

“I don’t think they’d be really taking its eye off the networking ball for a couple reasons,” Schreck told eWEEK. “No. 1: Cisco has a colossal amount of resources dedicated to selling network infrastructure, I don’t think those investments have been meaningfully affected by this product launch.