Recent results clearly reinforce the growing understanding that Cisco has unleashed a more highly evolved and effective solution into the computing ecosystem. While the principles outlined by Charles Darwin inOrigin of the Speciescan stir controversy, I find them to be an accurate model for technology evolution and quite useful for describing how we've arrived at this latest watershed in the x86 server market.
Our first observation would be the extremely rapid rate of customer adoption for Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS). Darwin would tell us that there must be significant advantage in "fitness to purpose" inherent to UCS that have driven this velocity. This is certainly true. Looking back at where we've been and how we're positioned to go forward, here are key factors I see at play that create these advantages for UCS adopters:
? Best in class compute: UCS
? Best in class fabric: Nexus
? Best in class storage: take your pick from industry leaders
? Advantage: Cisco
In "Chapter IV: Natural Selection" ofOrigin of the Species, Darwin lays out the most crucial and sustaining advantage of all: Adaptability. The most adaptable of the species is the one that survives. Here lies perhaps the strongest differentiator of all for UCS: an open, complete, documented and supported API that allows UCS to evolvefaster and smarterthan anything else on the planet. Big Data? Virtualization? Multi-tenant Hybrid Cloud? When pitted against environmental challenges that exist today or in the future, UCS is going to be ready to adapt and outperform its ancestors. It already does . It's unfair, but it's natural selection.
Which takes us back to "Chapter III: Struggle for Existence," which we see playing out in the industry headlines today. At a time when many of our competitors are struggling, Cisco is thriving as a company and UCS is growing almost an order of magnitude faster than the market, and faster than any product portfolio in the history of the corporation. Investment Protection? Advantage: Cisco Customers.