Networking Solutions Provider Cisco Announces a $1 Billion Investment in Cloud Services
Networking solutions provider Cisco has announced it is making a $1 billion investment in cloud-based services. Called “InterCloud”, the company has suggested its new service would be a “network of clouds” that leverages the OpenStack open source cloud-computing operating system. The service will also offer Cisco’s existing services such as WebEx virtual meetings and cloud-based Wi-Fi networks tool, Meraki.
Leveraging Cisco’s Unified Computing System, Cisco’s service will provide server, storage and networking services that particularly target data centers. Although seen by many as a direct attempt to take on some of the larger, more established cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s approach differs in that it will provide its service through partners (such as Telstra, Allstream and Ingram Micro) rather than establish its own cloud capability. This will offer the company the potential to scale services as required on the way to becoming a “global cloud service”.
To utilize services Cisco’s customers would deal with one of its partners in one part of the world, and other partners in other parts of the world. The approach also has benefits as far as “data sovereignty” is concerned – a number of legal requirements force companies to keep data within the boundaries of a particular country or state. Whereas players like AWS have servers in a number of countries, working with partners means Cisco will be able to offer to offer services that fully meet data sovereignty requirements.
What are your thoughts? Can Cisco succeed in the cloud? Add your comments below.
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