At first glance Cisco's latest announcement that it is entering the server market seems like another corporate IT announcement, but take a closer look. The company's long-term vision of a 'virtualised' datacentre could eventually revolutionise how consumers access new services via the net.
First, let us look at what Cisco announced. On Monday, the company unveiled a new datacentre architecture called 'Unified Computing'. This architecture includes new hardware from Cisco, namely blade servers, an interconnection 'fabric', a chassis for the blade servers, Fabric extenders and network adapters. It also includes co-ordinated support and software integration from several partners, including chipmaker Intel, software maker Microsoft, storage gear maker EMC and virtualisation partner VMware, among several others.
On its own, this announcement is a big deal for Cisco. The company, which has spent the past 20 years building infrastructure equipment, is now competing in the computer server market against some of its current partners such as HP and IBM. But as the company's executives pointed out during a press and analyst event to unveil the new strategy, Cisco never announces just a product.
"We don't announce point products," chief executive John Chambers said during a telepresence session to announce the new strategy. "What we are talking about today is the next market evolution and an architecture that will allow us to go after a new market."
Grand vision
So it should come as no surprise that the company's new datacentre server strategy announced on Monday is fuelled by a grand vision, to not only help its corporate customers improve efficiency and reduce costs, but also transform how average consumers can access loads of cool new applications on cheap devices.
In almost every respect, Cisco sees the future as one in which every device is connected to the internet, where even the simplest and least expensive devices can access information via an IP network. This vision of the future not only requires fast connections so individuals can access content quickly, but also intelligent and efficient datacentres where information and applications can be housed and processed.
"Virtualisation to us means any device connecting to any content from anywhere," Chambers said. "Eventually, we see the datacentre carrying all the way to the home. Consumers won't know if it's a set-top box or an iPhone processing the data. They just want the application. We are outlining a vision of the future here. That's why I get so excited about it."
What we are talking about today is the next market evolution and an architecture that will allow us to go after a new market
John Chambers, Cisco CEO
Cisco has long been at the forefront of building faster and higher-capacity networks. As the world's largest maker of gear that shuttles traffic throughout the internet, the company essentially built the information superhighway.
Virtualised datacentre
But a highway is not worth much without something to transport. So Cisco is now looking at helping content producers house and provide access to content and applications via an IP network. At the heart of Cisco's vision is the virtualised datacentre, where a super-efficient collection of technologies will store content such as movies, music, and pictures, and also process complex applications, such as social-networking interactions, allowing simple devices easy access to both the content and the applications.
In essence, Cisco's new strategy could allow it to pave the way for consumer electronics makers to make cheaper, simpler devices that connect wirelessly to a network-based datacentre. So instead of device makers loading products with high-performance processors and gigabytes worth of memory, they will be able to provide simple, inexpensive devices that access rich content and complex applications from the network. All the heavy lifting, so to speak, will be done in the network instead of on the device.
Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala said that Cisco's vision of the datacentre could eventually shape a new era in consumer electronics products.
"You'll be able to use a less complex device to access more complex information and services," he said. "So it's the difference between buying a $300 netbook and a $3,000 laptop. You won't need all the memory and processing power in a regular laptop. And at that price I can buy one for each of my kids. Ultimately, it means more content on more devices for more people."
This is good news for consumers, who could eventually see more devices connected to the internet at a lower cost. Even products such as Apple's iPhone could be seen as overkill in a virtualised environment. Today, applications are downloaded onto the iPhone, which means the device must have robust processors...
