Cisco

Cisco and the new data center

Well, since everyone else is talking about it, I might as well throw down my thoughts.

Very smart, calculated move!  I love the fact that they have a very focused, defined beachhead as they dip their toe into the deep end of the data center (aka servers).  Cisco for the last few years has danced around many other aspects of the data center with VoIP, Video and other network dependent applications or services.  This data center in a box strategy, while not a new concept, has some new technologies and approaches that will attract the top 2% of huge data centers to kick off proof-of-concepts over the next year.  They will enjoy kicking the tires and more importantly Cisco will learn more while building credibility. It will also open up more conversations that traditionally Cisco wasn’t included in, so depending on how they execute and industry reaction we may see Cisco make more strategic moves in this direction.

Also, even with all the buzz and worries about Cisco versus HP, IBM, Dell, SUN, etc, etc….for the most part this won’t be happening for years.  I understand HP’s very vocal responses since it’s also a great opportunity to use Cisco’s “getting into the blade server” message to say “why not consider us as an alternative to network routers/switches (they are #2 these days on the LAN switch front…a very distant #2).”

So basically for the next year or 18 months Cisco will be busy delivering on this vision…working with 20-30 key high-end data center customers in proof of concept mode hoping to fine tune this offering to a point where one or two of those big guys take the plunge and make a significant purchase.

Specific to Data Center Automation, this is a HUGE win for BMC!  I look forward to reading more on what precisely this offering includes and how it works.  The experience and access BMC will gain through a traditional networking giant (not their traditional area of expertise or success) will help them tremedously.  I remember years ago when working on integrations and joint efforts with BMC and when we mentioned “what do you have for networking” they would simply draw an ambiguous cloud….not anymore since Cisco will show them the nuances to “the cloud.”

So that’s my .02.  Based on what you’ve heard what impact do you think this will make to the data center..good…bad..indifferent?

Cisco and BMC? Why IT fears ITIL?

Here are a couple more reads as I play catch-up from the holidays. First up, ITIL then some thoughts around a recent interview with John Chambers at Cisco.

10 Reasons why ITIL spooks IT managers, originally written back in October by NetworkWorld, it was noted by another blog I read so I checked it out. One more I would like to add making it 11 is around challenges with “organizational stability”. Companies evolve to fast - i know sounds odd (e.g. reorganizations), technologies keep offering new approaches or benefits (e.g., virtualization), M&A activity that requires trying to blend two different organization and the technical and political challenges that offers Bottom line, there are just way to many things conspiring against something so all-inclusive from the top-down that takes years and years and year to accomplish. It touches ever part of the business and it’s snot elf-contained or focused like deploying a new financial application. Now I’m not saying ITIL isn’t useful, for example CMDB (e.g., configuration management) is something all large enterprises should have in my eyes. The amount of savings could/would be immense around effective utilization of resources, reducing redundancies, keeping every thing/one on the same page and the list goes on (more on that when we talk resource reconciliation next week).

Cisco’s John Chambers interview with Paul Musich titled “Cisco Charts New Course” was an enjoyable read as you attempt to read in between the lines and ponder Cisco’s strategy.

My personal thoughts from this center around Cisco’s push into collaborative applications being about driving bandwidth intensive applications to sell more/protect current investments companies have made in network plumbing (everything but servers, storage, desktops) while trying to find a bigger piece of the IT pie. They have to be careful not to upset the apple cart as they wish to bite off more of that IT budget pie. Since applications aren’t core to the main players that channel/sell (e.g., HP, IBM, EMC, Microsoft) their current cash cow products this ensures only light co-opetition today versus hard head-to-head competition. To date their application choices have been very calculated around unified communications and collaboration, not generalized. So with that said I’m not so sure they are about to just yet take that big jump and go after a more general application strategy (e.g., BEA). I think they have some maturing plans here which include finding a way to more efficiently manage applications, then maybe later in 2008 or early 2009 watch for that next step down the stack from actual applications to enabling the development of applications. I started pondering this back in December where I started making the case for Cisco acquiring BMC. With that said, if they do “go large” in IT management and grab BMC instead of someone like BladeLogic then scrap my thought on them doing the BEA thing.

Pondering Cisco and their play in Data Center Automation…

Great article by Jim Duffy, NetworkWorld, called “Cisco to accelerate shift to software and data center in 2008” had some really interesting thoughts.

One statement that got those juices flowing was, “Some analysts believe Cisco’s ambitions may lead to the acquisition of a major software vendor – perhaps BEA Systems…”

Now that is a serious thought! IBM has WebSphere, the biggest pure play application server platform beyond them is BEA!

Cisco already has, and continues to build out, all the non-system data center infrastructure categories (e.g., switching/routing, storage, security, application/network optimization). I would assume they don’t want to go head-on competitive against their biggest partners/channels (e.g., the server/storage vendors; HP, IBM, EMC) so a creative end-around, “coopetition” play, would be to buy in and establish credibility with a major “platform” vendor (e.g., application platform or even a database vendor). I personally think they have shown signs of this intention through buying Webex.

Another way to creatively gain further credibility and an established customer base in the data center would be to grab a major management software vendor (e.g., BMC). Now that would bring excitement to the hole Data Center Automation (DCA) front! BMC has legacy data center presence (e.g., mainframe), system/storage/application monitoring presence, CMDB play with Atrium, RealOps acquisition for process orchestration, configuration/change automation with Marimba, help desk with Remedy, etc. One of BMC’s biggest perceived gaps/weakness has always been “the cloud,” what a great combo this could make. With all the web 2.0, virtualization buzz you have to believe Cisco want’s to be in the heart and minds of data center executives so they can capitalize.

Doing some further back-reading after Cisco launched Data Center 3.0 found these statements made in another article by Jim Duffy.

<snip>
Whereas Cisco’s Data Center 1.0 and 2.0 strategies focused on data center consolidation, 3.0 targets virtualization and automation, says Jayshree Ullal, Cisco senior vice president of the Datacenter, Switching and Security Technology Group.

Data Center 3.0 is also aimed at optimizing application performance, service levels, efficiency and collaboration, Cisco says.
<snip>

Hmmmm….that sounds like an advertisement for what BMC could bring them!

Anyways, just as an FYI, BMC & BEA have a market capitalizations of under $7B on revenues around $1.5B. Who knows, it’s fun to just step back and ponder what-if scenarios like this sometimes.