In a blog entry titled Microsoft, Cisco at odds on moving intelligence to the network, Gary E. Smith of The SOA Network says Cisco’s purchase of Reactivity is an “intermediary step” to an intelligent network for Cisco and that virtualization will be key to Cisco’s overall strategy. However, “Cisco isn’t prepared to announce anything regarding virtualization and … may be many years off (3-5 years).”
He adds: “Cisco is predominately in the network box business and they would like to position that the management of these services need to reside and be distributed throughout the network. While Microsoft is predominately in the software business they would like to see these services reside in software on a server. Either approach can be justified. The war will likely be won by whom ever can sell their position, partner and proliferate en mass as quickly as possible a solution that makes the most sense. This is where the real battle will be.”
How much will Cisco succeed with its SOA ambitions?
