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Virtualization: Article

Cisco to Harness VMware to Enter Server Biz: NY Times

New system could appear as early as March
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
January 22, 2009 04:00 AM EST
Reads:
 2,393

Cisco is going into the server business, according to a story in the New York Times.

The virtualization-only blade server, that others say is code named California, will be bundled with Cisco networking hardware and VMware virtualization.

The Times even toys with the idea that Cisco might buy the downtrodden VMware. It would of course have to persuade EMC.

Cisco, you may remember, bought a pre-IPO piece of VMware as well as part of Intel's post-IPO share, roughly equal to 2%.

Evidently the system, which the paper says will put Cisco on a "collision course" with IBM and HP, could appear in March and earn Cisco far lower profits than the 65% margin it's used to. Cisco evidently wants to be more than switching and routing plumbing but could suffer broad-based OEM retaliation on the networking side if it isn't already happening.

Cisco's vision for the machine supposedly includes management software and storage. It reportedly wants to virtualize the entire data center with a family of products and an architecture called Unified Computing, or Data Center 3.0.

The paper says Cisco may have to do this to compensate for its slowing core business and Wall Street's growth demands.

Published January 22, 2009 – Reads 2,393
Copyright © 2009 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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