The Cisco (News - Alert) and HP battle for market share is not a new one. For years, the two companies have been involved in a complex relationship that included collaborating partnership strategies on one end with contract competition on the other, often within the same deal.

Their rivalry intensified as the acquisition of new assets crossed into each other’s territory. Cisco’s entrance into HP’s server market and HP following with the acquisition of 3M (News - Alert) were clear signs that the few points of cooperation the two companies enjoyed were quickly deteriorating. The breakdown became more evident as long standing agreements between the two were not renewed.

The turf war for market share is now staged at the center of network convergence data centers and with a market valued at $26.2 billion the Cisco/HP data center competition is just beginning. VMworld’s 2012 Exhibition amongst other things hosted the face-off between its two diamond sponsors. Cisco and HP share common agreements with VMware on various platforms; HP with its virtualized software products and Cisco with its software defined data centers. 


Data center image via Shutterstock.

Data center networks are the heart of enterprise systems similar to the spaghetti junction of a cities transportation lines. Through routers and switches these data centers monitor and control the traffic flow between servers and their final destination whether it is inter or intra net. The data center is vital to an organizations system as the heart of all its core functions including email, proxy and DNS servers.

The life span of most data centers is around nine years and the renewal schedules are monitored closely by competitors, and that is exactly what HP did with a well timed marketing campaign by recognizing many CISCO systems were due to be replaced in 2011. The past year was a major turning point in it gaining market share. The results of that strategy has been worthwhile with the acquisition of high level contracts of $800 Million deal with Sabre (News - Alert) Holdings, TurkCell the largest telecom supplier in Turkey and the five year deal with Blue Shield of California to name a few.

The dynamics of data center networks are changing. Workplace devices are driving this shift and data centers are forced to evolve. The use of tablets and Smartphones neither of which have Ethernet ports are connecting to networks wirelessly increasing the demand on Wi-Fi networks. The 2012 Smart Systems Forecast Report explains this new direction. These new devices along with cloud computing will require networks and data centers with higher capacity.

Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) thought to have been a risky venture is proving to be valid. According to research conducted by Canalys, Cisco has boosted ahead of HP to take the number one spot in data centers but also recognized that HP was close behind as its biggest competitor.

HP is entering this arena as a clear option to Cisco’s dominance with a data center platform touted as being easier to use and integrate. It’s clear Cisco still dominates this market with 10,000+ customers but its propriety software may work against it in an age where open source compatibility is the trend.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.