Cisco Barges Into the Server Market

mikesd81 was one of several readers to write in about Cisco's announcement of what has been called Project California — a system comprising servers made from 64-bit Intel Nehalem EP Xeon processors, storage, and networking in a single rack, glued together with software from VMWare and BMC. Coverage of this announcement is everywhere. Business Week said: "The new device, dubbed Project California, takes servers into new territory by cramming computer power into the very box that contains storage capacity and the networking tools that are Cisco's specialty. Cisco's approach could help companies use fewer machines — saving money not only on hardware, but also on power and IT staffing — in building data centers. ... Cisco is well-girded to take this step. It has more than $30 billion in cash, more than any other tech company. The company is moving into no fewer than 28 different markets, including digital music in the home and public surveillance systems." The Register provides more analysis: "Microsoft is, of course, a partner on the California system, since you can't ignore Windows in the data center, and presumably, Hyper-V will be supported alongside ESX Server on the hypervisors. (No one at the Cisco launch answered that and many other questions seeking details). ... The one thing that Cisco is clear on is who is signing off on these deals: the CIO. Cisco and its partners are going right to the top to push the California systems, right over the heads of server, storage, and network managers who want to protect their own fiefdoms."

Comments

WTF?

[gillbates]

since you can't ignore Windows in the data center...

I couldn't agree more - ignoring Windows in the data center, i.e., forgetting to patch it, leaving it alone for too long, connected to a network, etc... is a recipe for disaster.

Oh, wait, did someone mean they can't ignore the prospect of using Windows in a data center? Did someone just imply that those of us who have been using IBM mainframes and Sun servers and Linux boxes can't do without Windows in our data centers?

Please. Many a pristine uptime has been ruined by putting Windows in the data center, and while I'll admit they have made strides in improving their OS, it is still nowhere near the reliability of UNIX servers, let alone mainframes. A few years ago, the London Stock Exchange suffered an outage after deciding to go with Windows instead of Linux. Even if there are no future outages, they won't return to 5 nines of uptime until well into the next century.