VCE now competing with VMware

VCE, the converged infrastructure lovechild of Cisco, EMC and VMware, is starting to get into interesting competitive tangles. The company's founding proposition was that it sells stacks-in-a-box comprised entirely of kit from Cisco and EMC, plus VMware software. Cisco's since reduced itself to a silent partner in the company …

[Anonymous Coward]

Yawn

We built this year's ago - VMWare ESX on HP server hardware, Windows 7 VMs, running Citrix with Xen desktop plus Netscaler hardware.

Putting it all in a box with a VBlock badge is not innovation.

[billse10]

"Firstly, it's now working with a networking hardware competitor to Cisco" - albeit one with whom Cisco itself provides config guides (search CCO for netscaler RISE), and sells the virty version as Netscaler 1000V ...

[Neil Spellings]

Virtual Netscalers are just fine

For the virtual desktop/VDI workloads, virtual NetScalers are just fine and scale very well to thousands of users. Their logic that you need physical devices is wrong and smacks of old-style disties trying to flog more tin.

[unredeemed]

VCE ain't cheap. Requirements for premium support, and other value added price increases over piece meal EMC/Cisco gear. However you get a single rack to install, power and uplinks. Then a single number to call for support L1/L2. With automatic transfers if needed for senior support at the respective OEM. There is value to it. But it depends on the needs of a customer.

What I'd like to hear is what VSPEX and their new BLUE gear means to VCE? Will KVM be an option next?

[M. B.]

Wait for the announcements next week at EMC World (if there are any). I asked about VPSEX Blue appliances with Hyper-V and ScaleIO and got some rather stunned "how-did-you-know" looks from the SEs.

[jdundon]

Misleading article

Cisco got out of the load balancing / ADC business several years ago when it discontinued ACE. Cisco has a strategic alliance with Citrix and this partnership is an important component of Cisco's ACI initiative. VCE is not getting into bed with a Cisco competitor, rather with a partner.