* Cisco’s approach to the intelligent network
Cisco’s plans to add intelligent application message processing to its network equipment could displace software vendors also striving to deliver on the intelligent network of the future.
According to a recent report from Forrester Research, Cisco Application Oriented Networking (AON) would equip the vendor with better routing capabilities that could optimize application throughput and increase transaction processing speed. AON could provide IT managers with information on the sources and destinations of application messages to help with IT shops’ service-level management efforts.
Cisco could also accelerate the adoption of Web services, Forrester says, as well as help enterprise companies complete “organic IT” initiatives. Forrester’s organic IT is similar to IBM’s On Demand computing and HP’s Adaptive Enterprise in that it describes an intelligent network that can grow and shrink based on application and end-user demands for resources.
The difference between Cisco and the software vendors is that Cisco believes intelligent hardware will be the answer, while the HPs and IBMs of the world see smart software as the ticket to an automated data center. So far, when it comes to optimizing IP-based applications such as voice and video, according to the Yankee Group, IT customers are turning to the equipment vendors.
“Customers looking to measure call quality for voice and rolling out video are looking to the equipment vendors,” says George Hamilton, a senior analyst with the Yankee Group. “Software makers such as Microsoft and IBM will say the network is a dumb routing platform and that the way to an automated data center is by putting intelligence into the apps. Cisco has to build more management capabilities into its gear, and the company is really are focused on delivering that.”
