Cisco Ditches Flash Storage Efforts Under New CEO

Cisco is binning its flash storage business, dumping its Invicta storage array line just two years after it was launched following a $415m (£268m) acquisition of Whiptail in 2013.

The move is the latest in a line of changes brought it by new CEO Chuck Robbins, who became effective CEO of Cisco on July 26 and replaced long-term boss John Chambers.

It was just last week when Cisco Systems decided to axe its TV set-top business, selling the division to French media firm Technicoolor for $600m (£387m).

Drive value

In a statement to press, Cisco said: “Cisco is prioritising the elements of our portfolio to drive the most value for our customers both now and in the future, and today, we are announcing the End of Life (EoL) for the Invicta Appliance and Scaling System products.”

The 2013 Whiptail acquisition was designed to integrate flash storage into Cisco’s United Computing System data centre platform, and was aimed at heating up the flash competition with rivals such as NetApp and EMC.

But quality complaints from customers led Cisco halting shipments of the Invicta arrays in 2014.

On its website, Cisco said: “Cisco announces the end-of-sale and end-of-life dates for the Cisco UCS Invicta Series. The last day to order the affected product(s) is July 24, 2015.”

Cisco did highlight that customers who still have active service contracts can continue to receive support from the firm in compliance with End of Life contracts.

“It is clear to me that we have the right vision, strategy and assets to lead our customers and the market for the next decade,” said Robbins writing on the Cisco blog last week.

“I also see where we can and will prioritise and accelerate areas that are critical to our future success, make changes where needed, drive greater simplification and clarity in our business, continue our focus on operational discipline, and invest in our exceptional culture.”

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