Cisco’s Blades Business Off to a Good Start

Cisco raised quite a few eyebrows last year when it announced plans to enter into the blade server market. Cisco is known for its networking gear but computing was a whole new market. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the announcement, Cisco gives an update on first-year sales. Server Watch has the story.

There was more than a little skepticism at Cisco’s entry into the blade server business last year. The company was the recognized expert in the field of networking equipment, but expertise in one field doesn’t always make for a winner in another.

But so far, after almost a full year of selling its Unified Computing System (UCS) bladed and rack-mounted servers, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) seems to be making decent headway. During its most recent earnings call, CEO John Chambers said the firm has scored 400 customer wins, double what it had at the end of the prior quarter.

Chambers said more details would come after the close of the current quarter in April. But he said Cisco is already meeting its goals.

“In terms of the basis for the Nexus in terms of a $1 billion run rate, I feel very comfortable we’ll be beyond that in this calendar year. In fact, we are rapidly closing on that already,” he said on the conference call. He added that most of those 400 customers are doing “pilots and implementation.”

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Cisco’s Foray Into Blades Starts Well