* More from Cisco’s analyst meeting
Last time, we started to look at some of the directions Cisco was evolving in, as the company outlined at its recent analyst meeting. These directions have important implications for management.
As we discussed, Cisco is working on an infrastructure to support the virtualization of business services and a routing/switching capability that takes into account the full seven-layer stack with a much enhanced emphasis on applications and application awareness. Here are some other initiatives that came to light:
* Cisco outlined three areas of focus: the network or transport layer, the services and control layer and the content layer. The content layer reflects a commitment to supporting application content, leveraging Cisco’s investments in storage. The network layer is of course Cisco’s traditional focus and strength. But it is the services and control layer that’s really going to determine whether Cisco can succeed in its new mission. Cisco has spoken a lot about integrated security, but a lot less about management per se. Hopefully, that oversight will be addressed at least in part within the next 12 months.
* Cisco spoke a great deal about “virtualization,” with a focus on virtualizing the infrastructure (read: “network”) for provisioning and delivering critical business services. Once again this requires a fundamental shift upwards from how Cisco has approached management in the past – in which all too often network management has been “virtualized” via business model. In other words, “virtualized” through a lack of imagination and a more complete sense of responsibility since Cisco wasn’t in the “business of management” to begin with. Now Cisco must seriously think through all the complexities of how its network infrastructure will play to a system of provisioning, control, delivery and financial modeling across the full network-systems-application infrastructure, with full accountability across every aspect of its architecture.
* On one chart in a breakout session, Cisco said its customers had the following top four priorities – security, high availability, service performance and management. From an Enterprise Management Associates perspective, this all really equates to management pretty much across the board. Cisco’s awareness here is a good sign.
One telling conversation occurred on the following issue. Senior Cisco management pointed to IBM’s and HP’s products for what I would call “strategic infrastructure management.” At the same time, they would often use phrases that indicated they failed to recognize their dependencies on robust and well-thought-out multi-vendor systems of control – saying things such as, “Our infrastructure will automatically provision the business service.” As opposed to, say, “Our infrastructure will support automated service provisioning, working closely with multi-vendor systems of control. And by the way, here’s exactly how we’ll do this…”
When I pointed out the contradiction, I received some confused looks and was asked to talk to their lead network management group. There, I was roundly reassured and heard a great many things to indicate a very solid awareness of the problem and their real appreciation for the magnitude of Cisco’s network management Gordian knot.
Cisco’s success as a network systems provider with credibility as a purveyor of application and content services will depend on the success of this growing awareness in influencing Cisco’s architectural planning and permeating its business culture. I may be only a little parochial in saying that a thorough and clear infrastructure management strategy may well be the number one gating factor for Cisco’s success in achieving its new systems ambitions.
