Category: Cisco Certificate

HP Heats Up Cisco Rivalry with 3Com Purchase

The gloves are off now in the fight for the data center. Cisco has operated largely unchallenged in providing routing and networking equipment for data centers, but with the purchase of 3Com, HP is poised to go head-to-head with Cisco.

The nearly $3 billion acquisition allows HP to incorporate a diverse portfolio of network switching and routing equipment, as well as 3Com’s TippingPoint intrusion prevention products into its inventory. Combined with the growing success of HP’s existing ProCurve network devices, purchasing 3Com intensifies the rivalry between Cisco and HP.

The purchase also signals a new direction for HP which has a history of expanding the scope of its products and services through acquisitions. HP bought Compaq in 2001 to extend its market share of server and desktop computers. In 2008, HP purchased rival IT services provider EDS to buy its way into 2nd place in that industry behind IBM. Acquiring 3Com takes HP into data center networking hardware territory and gives it the ability to deliver comprehensive, end-to-end solutions for customers.

HP isn’t the only company blurring the lines between traditionally separate markets. The entire industry is going through a convergence driven by unified communications and virtualization. The technologies and how they are being applied have evolved and companies like HP and Cisco have to adapt to those market trends to meet their customer’s needs.

Cisco has been stepping on toes for some time now. Cisco essentially drew first blood in this battle when it recently began marketing its own line of server hardware. Cisco has also been engaged against Microsoft, fighting to shape the future of unified communications. Last week Cisco announced the addition of 61 new products to its unified communications and collaboration portfolio.

Cisco has built its reputation in networking and has a solid share of that market, but it has been working diligently to break out of that mold and expand its products and services. Cisco is learning though that competitors are not going to sit idly by. Logitech took a bold step from the consumer side of technology to square off against Cisco for enterprise video-conferencing with the purchase of LifeSize.

Core Knowledge Waiver for Cisco 360 Candidates

As the only CCIE training program authorized by Cisco, the Cisco 360 Learning Program is designed to accelerate expert-level competency and provide the tools that are needed to prepare candidates for the rigorous CCIE Routing and Switching and Voice lab exams.

Beginning April 1, 2010, Cisco will allow students who attend a Cisco 360 Learning Program workshop to request a waiver and skip the Core Knowledge section of the CCIE R&S or Voice lab exam.

Participating Cisco Authorized Learning Partners now also offer discounted Cisco 360 Learning Program bundles of R&S Self-Paced Lessons and Performance Assessments, providing students with additional training options. Check with your local Learning Partner for details. Finally, the eight Cisco 360 Learning Program R&S Self-Paced Lessons and four comprehensive lab-quality Performance Assessments are now available on the Cisco Learning Network Store.

Customers to benefit from Cisco-HP divorce

The networking giant announced late last week, would be remembered as a channel and HP Services Global Alliance Partners.

In an initiative announced the report published Tuesday in Cisco, John Byrne, director of Network Business Quarterly, TBR, clients expressed more favorable terms, and better support to see, and greater reductions resulting from the additional competition.

The move is a clear marketing strategy pushing Cisco UCS (Unified Computing System) Data Center Strategy, which will be its blade servers marries network services. However, Mr. Byrne said, large organizations will likely choose from HP, Cisco, when pressed, to switch between the server and newcomers courageous decision UCS Cisco announced in March.

He noted that Cisco was the split with HP “inevitable”, since the move from Cisco in the market for servers.

Keith Goodwin, Senior Vice President of Cisco partners worldwide organization, said in an e-mail to ZDNet Asia: “In recent years, our relationship with HP by a partner for companies with different and conflicting visions of how d ‘ deliver value to develop the customer. ”

HP maintained as a network of certified partners, would give the company access to confidential information from Cisco, such as roadmaps, Goodwin noted. “Given the development of the supply of our relations is simply no meaning to these benefits for HP,” he said.

HP has also pushed his arm ProCurve Networking. The technology giant in the past year brought the ProCurve division in collaboration with its divisions of server and storage within its Technology Solutions Group.

Last September, HP has released a new range of ProCurve switches designed to integrate with its blade servers. An HP executive said at the time was in an interview with ZDNet Asia that the company would primarily compete with IBM and Dell Computer in the data center space and Cisco does not see as a threat.

In a reply by e-mail Tuesday a spokesman for HP told ZDNet Asia, the company would push the global reach and scale to use ProCurve portfolio to customers.

HP converged infrastructure architecture, announced in November last year on offers networking and HP’s target market segment identical to UCS is unfounded.

Following the announcement by Cisco to separate relationships, HP said: “We do not take it in the best interest of the client in a proprietary attitude.

“We will provide clients with consulting, integration, management and support services for their heterogeneous environments, and ensure that our hardware and software platforms for all major network platforms are optimized.

TBR Byrne said, Cisco and HP, however, continue to be committed today, with divergence time. “As both companies to take first place in their respective markets, they share many companies with which they are a very strategic relationship.

“Therefore it is up to each company to” play nice “for now, to avoid negative impact on the activity of their customers,” he said.

An opportunity for Cisco in emerging markets
In the view of analysts, the first opportunity for Cisco to lie with small businesses or new data centers.

Mike Allen, director of the chain in Asia for Cisco, said the company expects growth in emerging economies. “In our last earnings announcement, we saw two years of double digit growth over the year in the Asia-Pacific countries like China and India.”

Cisco plans to focus on his message of virtualization and collaboration with customers in the region, Allen.

In a previous interview with ZDNet Asia, Michael Warrilow, Hydra SightSpeed CEO, said Cisco needs to convince customers to its network and server teams work together to ensure the adoption of products of UCS.

The IDC said to offer a comment at the time also focused UCS ‘is for customers to build data centers from scratch to appeal.

Cisco announced earlier this month, has 400 people gathered at the NGC.

IDC for the third quarter 2009 figures showed that 50.7 percent of worldwide server blade market HP, IBM with 29.4 percent and Dell with 8.9 percent.

Cisco services first for Omani reseller

The certification is the latest move by ABIT expand its technology and comes just months after he was named a Cisco Premier Partner.

The Cisco Smart Care Service is an offer of collaboration, Cisco Certified Partner with a service platform to build on Cisco Networking expertise to create new customized services for their customers.

The service is ABIT can provide its customers with continuous remote monitoring, network maintenance and full technical support for all voice and data network, as well as add-on services.

Dealers, Cisco specializations in unified communications solutions operation had to meet specific service, support and staff to obtain certification.

“Cisco is at the heart of our activities and certification first and Smart Care Partnership is a testimony of our continued commitment to our relationship,” said Director Hisham Hassan.

“Given the increasing competitiveness in the Sultanate technology, we also continue to develop and improve our skills and capabilities to provide complete portfolio of Cisco solutions for our customers,” he added.

Singapore Used Cisco Reseller
NetworkHardware

Cisco plans to acquire Tandberg

The proposed deal, which has been endorsed by Tandberg’s board of directors, is expected to close in the first half of 2010.

The acquisition will allow Cisco to take a lead in the video conferencing sector, which has traditionally been dominated by Tandberg and its US rival Polycom.

Cisco has invested heavily in its high end telepresence offering in recent years, but lacks the lower end desktop video conferencing products necessary to help gain traction in a fast growing sector estimated to be worth $34 billion.

Cisco is also expected to benefit from Tandberg’s standards-based video conferencing technology, which is fully interoperable with standards-based equipment from rival vendors.

“This interoperability will benefit Cisco’s customers, but also competitors and partners by accelerating customer interest in video collaboration globally,” the company said in a statement.

John Chambers, CEO, Cisco cited a “shared vision” for collaboration and video conferencing technologies as one factor behind the proposed deal.

“Cisco and Tandberg have remarkably similar cultures and a shared vision to change the way the world works through collaboration and video communications technologies,” he said.

“Collaboration is a $34 billion market and is growing rapidly-enabled by networked Web 2.0 technologies. This acquisition showcases Cisco’s financial strength and ability to quickly capture key market transitions for growth,” he added.

Once the deal is complete, Tandberg’s CEO Fredrik Halvorsen is expected to lead the new ‘TelePresence Technology Group’ within Cisco, reporting to Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of the company’s Emerging Technologies Group.

Under the terms of the deal, Cisco will make a cash offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of Tandberg for 153.5 Norwegian Kroner per share, amounting to about $3.0 billion and representing an 11% premium on Wednesday’s closing price of Tandberg’s stock, and a 25.2% premium to the three-month volume weighted average closing price, Cisco said.