When she left Cisco in May of 2008, Jayshree Ullal knew that the blade servers were coming. After all, she had been at Cisco for 15 years — the last few as senior VP in charge of data center, switching and security.
Where did the former data center chief stand on the company’s decision to build vs. partner for the blade servers in its Unified Computing System?
Well, she won’t say, citing the sensitivity of the issue with her former employer. But in general, Ullal says Cisco’s Unified Computing System splash is a realization by the company that its wallet share in the data center is only a third or even a quarter of that of the server and storage vendors.
Ullal also gives her former company thumbs up for focusing on the high-end, “systems integration” aspect of the unified computing opportunity and avoiding the commodity nature of standalone server sales. She also notes that Cisco is being much more “bold and aggressive” with its vision, vs. the more conservative approaches of the traditional data center players.
She also says the latest rumor of IBM looking to acquire Sun “clearly validates” Cisco’s move and implies that more consolidation is on the way.
But inquiring minds still want to know, Jayshree: did you or did you not support the decision to build vs. partner for the UCS blade server?
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