Cisco declares war, embraces open source

Cisco Systems doesn't seem to know how to color inside the lines.

The networking-equipment giant has been foraging in a diverse set of new markets lately, taking on Microsoft in the collaboration and unified-communications markets, but now sticking a finger in the eye of longtime server partners Hewlett-Packard and IBM by jumping into the server market, as The New York Times reports.

Is Cisco reckless, or simply smart?

Whichever the case may be, Cisco just took on a host of powerful competitors. All at once. Sun Microsystems' Zack Urlocker notes that Sun, among others, is jumping into Cisco's profitable network equipment market. It was bound to happen that partners would become competitors to Cisco, as they sought to eke out a living in a recessed economy.

What wasn't certain is just how grand Cisco's ambition could be and how fast it would happen. As CNET's Marguerite Reardon writes, Cisco isn't going halfway with its new Unified Computing push:

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the company's new data center server strategy, announced Monday, is fueled by a grand vision to not only help its corporate customers improve efficiency and reduce costs, but also (to) transform how average consumers can access loads of cool new applications on cheap devices.

Few companies have the luxury to make such bold moves. Cisco, as well as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft, is one that can.

Intriguingly, Cisco's Unified Computing initiative puts it into close collaboration with Linux leader Red Hat, as the two are collaborating to ensure that Cisco's new servers run seamlessly with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). While VMware and Microsoft got a lot of coverage in the Cisco announcement, my conversations with executives behind the scenes reveals a different picture:

• Cisco has been working on this project for more than a year, and it initially figured that it could cover the market with VMware for virtualization, and Windows and RHEL as the operating systems. However, when the company talked with early prospects roughly nine months ago, the vast majority reported that they were using VMware or virtualization in only 5 percent to 10 percent of the workloads Cisco was targeting for its Unified Computing push. They weren't using Windows, either. Virtually all of them were using Unix or RHEL, with a large swath embracing RHEL.
• RHEL, in fact, is expected to claim 80 percent to 90 percent of Cisco's Unified Computing customers: those using VMware for virtualization but running RHEL as a guest server operating system, and those not yet comfortable using virtualization in high-end computing workloads, will use RHEL as their base operating system.

While Cisco's Unified Communication technology is hardly open source--Cisco has built its own proprietary Ethernet, for heaven's sake!--the initiative will largely depend on open-source software. In my conversations with executives involved in the initiative, Red Hat, specifically, and open-source proponents, generally, are deemed to be critical to its success.

This isn't surprising, given how integral open source is to Cisco's other new initiatives, such as its push into collaboration, which involved the acquisitions of PostPath (which also includes Zimbra's open-source Web client in its offering) and Jabber, as well as a variety of open-source projects from the Apache Software Foundation and elsewhere.

HP's vice president of marketing for enterprise servers and storage, Jim Ganthier, dissed Cisco's foray into his market with a dismissive hiss:

It may have looked like a really great idea on paper, but as they start to wade into the water, they may find out that there are some things in the water that they don't like.

Maybe. But Cisco has the heft to completely dam HP's river and fill a lake. That's the plan. And open source will play a major role in making it happen.

Follow me on Twitter at mjasay.

[botchagalupe]

RE: embraces open source<br /><br />I'm guessing you missed the the BMC Bladelogic part of the UCS announcement.<br /><br />John<br />johnmwillis.com

[Mr. Dee]

John, stop making wild predictions. First it was Linux owning Netbooks which ended up being 90% Windows solution. Now you are saying Linux will be owning this CISCO initiative. Thanks for jinxing it I guess. <br /><br />Whats with you and Redhat lately? Are you being paid secretly be their mouthpiece on CNET?

[odubtaig]

John?<br /><br />Your usual level of fact checking then.

[zelrik]

@Mr. Dee,<br /><br />If I were, I would think a bit more and stop believing whatever you read on internet. I know where that 90% is coming from (NPD Group) and for some reason that decreases your credibility by the same amount : 90%.

[saltylaker]

I am surprised as well that your article seems to portray open source as simply RedHat. Somehow like using RedHat is support for all open source and its principles. The competitors in the server market, such as IBM and Sun Microsystems are far more committed to open source than Cisco.

[osultan]

Matt:<br /><br />Good perspective on the open source aspects of our Cisco UCS--I had not seen much coverage of the Red Hat or Novell angle. The one point I would like to clarify is that terming Cisco data center Ethernet (DCE) "proprietary" is a bit misleading. Cisco has been shipping DCE as its basis for delivering a unified fabric for almost a year now in partnership with the likes of Emulex, Intel, QLogic, and VMware. The protocols that underpin DCE are currently going through the IEEE standards process and Cisco has already committed to maintain compliance with the final IEEE standard.<br /><br />Omar Sultan<br />Cisco<br />blogs.cisco.com/datacenter

[McFerg505]

Ah Yes. Cisco, the flag bearer of Open Standards. Gimme a break.

[pentest]

When Cisco stops adding crap to existing protocols for the purpose of making it difficult to allow other network gear then you can prattle on about standards compliance.<br /><br />Until then, just be happy that you charge 5 times too much and ****.

[jaganesundar]

Matt, <br /> <br />While I agree that open source is a likely to be a big part of the Cisco blade server business, I am not convinced that this is necessarily a good thing for Redhat. <br /> <br />Consider this scenario - If Cisco was to create an App Store equivalent for their Virtualized Datacenter, they could do for Enterprise Software what Apple has done for Mobile Applications. <br /> <br />Applications could be packaged as Virtual Appliances - a custom Linux, an open source database, Apache and/or Tomcat plus the Application itself. <br /> <br />Fixed functionality is offered by these Virtual Appliances, and they are supported by the provider of the Virtual Appliance. <br /> <br />This completely eliminates the complexity of setting up and configuring these applications, and thereby stresses the business model of many open source companies. <br /> <br />-- Jagane Sundar <br />Founder, Thinsy Corporation <br />http://www.thinsy.com/

[idfubar]

You've clearly missed the orders of magnitude difference in deployment complexity between a $.99 application like "Flick Fishing" and, say, SugarCRM.<br /><br />There already are "app stores" for enterprise software (e.g. http://www.jumpbox.com/) - they don't necessarily accelerate the "uptake" of open-source solutions since (IMHO) the obstacles tend to be organizational rather than technical.

[meh130]

Not sure where you got this idea of the Cisco systems using a proprietary version of Ethernet. What Cisco calls "Data Center Ethernet" (DCE), Intel calls Enhanced Ethernet for Data Center (EEDC), and other vendors call "Converged Enhanced Ethernet" (CEE), is standards based:<br /><br />802.1Qaz Enhanced Transmission Selection<br />802.1Qbb Priority-based Flow Control<br />Data Center Bridging (Managed by the IEEE Data Center Bridging Task Group). DCB is expected to leverage functionality provided by 802.1AB-2005 Link Layer Discovery Protocol<br />802.1Qau Congestion Notification<br /><br />Yes, the standards are a work in progress at this point, but products from multiple Ethernet switch vendors already support some of these features in a pre-standards for, all major vendors are committed to supporting the final standards, and Ethernet switches supporting these features will be available from multiple vendors.<br /><br />Today Cisco, Intel, Emulex, QLogic, Brocade, and Blade Network Technologies are just some of the vendors supporting DCE/CEE features. IBM is also a strong supporter of Enhanced Ethernet.

[pentest]

Cisco is well-known for implementing existing protocols, and then adding a few minor things to make sure its customers can't use anything else but Cisco's overpriced equipment.

[groveramit]

Hello pentest, <br /> I would agree with you that they over priced, We are a company based in India and our UM is priced far to low, top it all the maintenance and human intervention is also on the higer side. <br /> <br />Regards, <br />Amit Grover <br />Business Development Manager - International Sales <br />http://www.alliance-infotech.com