Industry watchers like me have long wondered when Cisco will transform itself into a full-line IT infrastructure vendor. This strategy was tipped in 2009 as Cisco barged into the server market with UCS. But one leg of the stool is still missing: Storage remains the province of Cisco partners like EMC and NetApp.
Archives for September 2014
Hodgepodge: My Thoughts on the Apple Watch, Part 2
The current Apple Watch doesn’t look that great. Apple previewed an unfocused product that needs quite a bit more development to be “insanely great.†Perhaps the software situation will improve by launch time, with Apple figuring out just what this thing is supposed to be and focusing on that. But it’s doubtful that the physical design will be altered much.
Transformative Success – My Thoughts on the Apple Watch, Part 1
Although it won’t be available for purchase for months, Apple just announced the new standard in smart watches and wearable computers. It’s as far ahead of the status quo as the iPhone was from the “smart” phone pack on its introduction back in 2007. But as it stands, the Apple Watch doesn’t transform the market: Although it will undoubtedly capture most of the smart watch market, this isn’t yet a transformative product for modern society like the iPhone or iPad.
Networking Field Day 8
If you’re interested in networking, I highly recommend tuning in to the video stream live this week for Networking Field Day 8! You’ll see 9 different networking companies present their technology, products, and people to an international Tech Field Day delegate panel, and you can participate online through Twitter.
The Rack Endgame: A New Storage Architecture For the Data Center
Top-of-rack flash and bottom-of-rack disk makes a ton of sense in a world of virtualized, distributed storage. It fits with enterprise paradigms yet delivers real architectural change that could “move the needle” in a way that no centralized shared storage system ever will. SAN and NAS aren’t going away immediately, but this new storage architecture will be an attractive next-generation direction!