Commentary: Cisco’s Nexus family of switches, as well as its new blade servers and virtualization plans, are key drivers of the company’s Unified Computing System, eWEEK Labs says. Cisco is looking to revolutionize the way the data center operates. While the technology is said to be compatible with existing products, there is sure to be a significant upfront cost for enterprises looking to get in on Cisco’s vision.Cisco Systems is rolling out an ambitious data center strategy
dubbed the Unified Computing System, and at the heart of it will be
Cisco server blades and the Nexus family of switches.
The Nexus switches, along with protocols—including FCoE (Fibre
Channel over Ethernet)—and a significant collection to top-tier
partners have been wielded together by Cisco to create an initiative to
lower data center capital and operational costs.
Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers led the announcement program March 16 at the company's headquarters in San Jose, Calif.
The Nexus 7000, introduced last year, is a 10 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet)
system that Cisco hopes will become the heart of the data center, with
a “wire once” approach that reduces operational costs by putting
compute, virtualization and storage access on a single platform. It’s a
compelling technology that competitors, including Juniper Networks, are
meeting with new data center products that were also announced at the beginning of March.
IT managers who have identified data center server virtualization and storage access as key drivers for business success should put the Unified Computing System
on their strategic planning horizon. Based on briefings I’ve had with
Cisco and in looking at the company’s other 10 GbE products, it is
clear that getting in on the new platform will require a significant
upfront cost.
The new equipment and services—while said to be compatible with
existing infrastructure—are intended to be the next generation of data
center equipment, unencumbered by Cisco’s Catalyst routers and
switches. The recession currently engulfing the world economy was top
of mind at the launch event. This same turmoil may provide an
opportunity for IT managers to implement the Unified Computing System.
As surviving companies pick up assets of failed competitors, the
opportunity to build out a “greenfield” data center environment can be
an option. Since the UCS will likely work best in those medium to large
enterprise organizations that Cisco sees as the target audience for the
technology, this greenfield option is a viable alternative to a status
quo data center.
eWEEK Labs will be looking at the Cisco UCS in detail over the next
several months to provide greater detail about how well the system
components deliver on the claims made at the announcement.
Labs Technical Director Cameron Sturdevant can be reached at cameron.sturdevant@ziffdavisenterprise.com.
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