Not content with enabling much of the world’s networking infrastructure, Cisco is planning to be a major player in the server virtualisation market, reaching deeper into the enterprise.
According to a report in the New York Times, San José networking giant Cisco expects to commence selling servers equipped with virtualisation software as early as March.
The move will open the company up to competition on two fronts; on the hardware front against IBM and HP; and on the software front against VMware, Microsoft and Citrix.
The move into servers has been speculated on for some time now and in recent months a product with the code name “California” has been discussed on websites and blogs.
It is envisaged the first slew of products will be targeted at data centres due to top the explosion of user-generated content and a shift to Software as a Service (SaaS) amongst businesses.
The move into markets that will bring Cisco into direct competition with players like HP and IBM – many of whom are Cisco customers – shouldn’t worry the firm very much.
Its recent move into videoconferencing with its TelePresence suite of products already has brought it into competition with HP and Microsoft.
By John Kennedy
