Cisco resellers urged to board server bandwagon

Forward-looking resellers advised to embrace Cisco's server launch.

Cisco channel pundits have urged resellers to get in early on the vendor’s first foray into the server market.

The networking titan finally unveiled its Unified Computing System (UCS) this week in a move that threatens to put out of joint the noses of server partners such as IBM, HP, Dell and Sun.

The datacentre architecture combines computing, networking, storage and virtualisation technology in one box.

Bob Dalton, managing director of Cisco channel services firm Intact, said the temptation would be for resellers to take a “wait and see” approach to the announcement.

However, he claimed those that get on board early could reap the commercial benefits as the market moves to recovery.

“We are already looking at how we can help our Cisco partner customers to make the most of the power of virtualisation offered by UCS, and we believe that Cisco’s vision of a converged datacentre will deliver real opportunities for its partners going forward,” Dalton said.

Cisco chief executive John Chambers said the new platform, which is set to hit the market in the second quarter, would “unify computer hardware, network and storage access, with the power of virtualisation”.

UCS will be an open system, enabling virtualisation packages including Microsoft and VMware to run on top of the hardware. Cisco said the platform could slash Capex by up to 20 per cent and Opex by up to 30 per cent.