More from this authorCisco’s Storage Trap
Twilight in the Valley of the NerdsRecent commentary from Barclays Capital analyst Jeff Kvaal has me wondering whether Cisco might push into the storage market. In turn, I’ve begun to think about a strategic drift at Cisco that has been apparent for the last few years. But let’s discuss Cisco and storage first, then consider the matter within a broader context. Risks, Rewards, and Precedents Obviously a move into storage would involve significant risks as well as potential rewards. Cisco would have to think carefully, as it presumably has done, about the likely consequences and implications of such a move. The stakes are high, and other parties — current competitors and partners alike — would not sit idly on their hands. Then again, Cisco has been down this road before, when it chose to start selling servers rather than relying on boxes from partners, such as HP and Dell. Today, of course, Cisco partners with EMC and NetApp for storage gear. Citing the precedent of Cisco’s server incursion, one could make t
