Cisco wants to own it all?

In Monday's IT Blogwatch, Richi Jennings watches the Cisco "California" Unified Computing rumors fly: what is the networking giant up to? Not to mention tunes remixed by Microsoft Songsmith...

Stephen Lawson pontificates:

If Cisco Systems announces its first blade servers on Monday, as expected, the news may well herald a major expansion of the dominant networking company's business. But even though it's the most hotly anticipated move in a long time for an IT vendor, this isn't the first case of a company taking a big gamble on entering into a new business.
...
If it does enter the server market, Cisco will find a much stronger set of opponents than it has faced in enterprise networking. Though they all had technical strengths, the companies that once challenged Cisco head-on -- 3Com, Cabletron and Bay Networks (later part of Nortel) -- frequently miscalculated the market. The likes of HP and IBM tend not to.

Timothy Prickett-Morgan adds:

As most of the planet now knows, Monday is D-Day for the "California" blade server launch from networking juggernaut Cisco Systems. This may not be the first time that Cisco has been involved in the server racket ... but it is, if the rumors are right, the first time that the company will directly take on the server makers that have defined the foundation of IT infrastructure for decades.

Networks, after all, hang off servers ... a server is useful precisely because it is networked, and as Sun Microsystems correctly observed a long time ago, "The network is the computer." ... if anyone can come in and shake up the server business, it's Cisco.

Om Malik is on tenterhooks:

In a matter of hours, Cisco Systems, the San Jose, Calif.-based maker of switches and routers will announce its much awaited lineup of server products, furthering its theme of unified computing. The company has planned a splashy event ... featuring Intel CEO Paul Otellini and VMWare CEO Paul Maritz.
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Cisco’s move is well timed. The demand for servers inside the data centers is on an upswing — about 50 percent of the 8 million servers sold every year end up in data centers, according to a BusinessWeek report. Similarly more devices inside the data center means more power consumption, which shoots up the operational costs of the data centers. According to Intel, nearly 25 percent of the costs associated with running big data centers can be traced back to power consumption ... much of the power is drawn by pizza box style servers.

Ben Worthen fingers the truth:

People who have seen the hardware describe a refrigerator-sized chassis that can accommodate computing blades–powered by x86 microprocessor chips from Intel–as well as networking blades ... Expect Cisco on Monday to stress ... that it is not just competing with existing blade servers from H-P, IBM and Dell, but offering an entirely new kind of system.
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While some longtime Cisco allies suddenly look like competitors, others have an important new customer. That includes Intel, which is likely to applaud the announcement while being a bit shy about discussing details.

Look, Joe Panettieri is just this guy, you know?

After months of speculation, the networking giant is expected to unveil its first servers. Cisco partners will surely welcome the news but The VAR Guy wonders: Will customers jump on board? ... At first glance, a showdown looms between Cisco and established data center/server providers like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and Dell.

But during a dinner with Riverbed Technology last week, The VAR Guy engaged in a lively debate with a TechTarget editor. While our resident blogger insisted Cisco channel partners would embrace the new servers, the TechTarget editor insisted customers would be a hard sell. Hmmm. Fair point. Ultimately, the big question: Can Cisco’s partners overcome customer inertia?

Cisco's Omar Sultan warns, "Beware of the Naysayers":

As our Unified Computing story unfolds tomorrow, I am sure there will be no shortage of expert commentary that says Cisco has gone off the reservation—in fact, I would venture that several of these pieces have already been written ahead of tomorrow’s announcements.

Since this post, Cisco made its announcement, as reported here.


And finally...

• Top 20 tracks remixed by Microsoft Songsmith

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Web is 20 today; anyone for cake?
• BBC breaks botnet Act, accusers accuse
• Google Voice speaks with one...
• ...more

Buffer overflow:

• Joe Weisenthal: Why Tech Won't Lead The Next Bull Market
• Bruce Eckel: The Positive Legacy of C++ and Java
• Craig Balding: What Does PCI Compliance in the Cloud Really Mean?
• Eric Krangel: Digg's Kevin Rose Builds An Index For Twitter
• Timothy Chou: Technology and My Hobby

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Michael Horowitz: Defending IE7 from Google interest-based advertising cookies
• SJVN: The seven best Linux Foundation contest videos
• Mike Elgan: Your cell phone is dirtier than a toilet. Here's help!
• Frank Hayes: And the winner is...just who you'd expect
• Preston Gralla: How to protect yourself against Google ad snooping
• Robert L. Mitchell: The Quicken cloud
• Shark Tank: Mobile, redefined
• ...more

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 23 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.