With all due respect VMware threw a custard pie in cisco’s face after working together on the networking piece. By overcomplicating the licensing and appearing to take its customers on a jolly, they effectively put nexus 1000v in the bin. Alot of existing customers are trying to reduce capital spend and are not likely to refresh hardware for new single processor servers which are also likely to be very costly. So existing customer may need to upgrade to the ent plus license at the end of their current SSN which would cost an extra $600 per socket so do the maths for a 4 processor server x 20 ESX hosts. For new customers there no complication they just won’t bother because the initial outlay is too big and the uncertainity of the enterprise license just adds another spanner to the works.

VMware ESX used to be an easy sell but its just become alot harder to sell. A potential customer who run an eval of VI3 has just developed cold feet when I presented the licensing to them and are now considering buying blades instead of VMware. Job well done VMware!

As always, customers need to make their own choices and understand the ROI on a particular spending decision, so the Nexus 1000V is far from a panacea, but I also think it is unfair to say that the N1KV and vDS are “not necessary for the proper management of their enterprise virtual environment”. Perhaps, if their virtual server environment as reached a steady state they are happy with, and, like you, they have the skills, background, and time to author scripts and manage the integration of multiple tools it might be a true statement. However, guidance from our customers would indicate that this is not true for most of them. They want to virtualize more of their workloads and more types of workloads and they want to take better advantage of vMotion and features like DRS, but the current environment acts as an inhibitor.

Network Instruments just conducted a survey of 120 IT managers at InterOp, where 55% of the respondents said they were running into problems. Of that group, 27% noted lack of visibility to troubleshoot problems and 21% expressed concerns over security. This is consistent with the feedback we have been getting and is exactly the reason we joined forces with VMW to address the problem.

So, I would offer the value of Enterprise Plus + Nexus 1000V is to virtualize more workloads and make more aggressive use of vMotion and related features such as DRS to drive faster and broader deployment of server consolidation and virtualization. This will reduce overall server infrastructure TCO through reduced CapEx (buy less servers) and OpEx (more efficient use of serves, less servers=lower power, cooling, rackspace, cabling).

Regards,

Omar Sultan
Cisco
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