The EMC, Cisco and VMware subsidiary VCE (formerly Virtual Computing Environment), has released Vblock System 340, its next converged server and networking rack-mount infrastructure. It’s also adding specialized Vblocks for virtualized, but high performance, databases and latency-sensitive applications.
In other words, the alliance between VMware and Cisco that produces converged infrastructure is alive and well, despite the sometimes bitter rivalry between the companies. For example, when VMware announced its partners for its NSX software-defined networking platform at VMworld in August, Cisco was noticeably absent.
By several standards, the VCE partnership should be viewed as a success. Cisco is breaking into the server market, in part because its Unified Computing System servers are a building block of Vblocks. VMware supplies the virtualization and EMC provides the integrated storage. IT operations can build something similar by ordering the parts and assembling them themselves. But for a price, VCE does it for you and guarantees the parts work together in an optimized fashion.
VCE says the joint venture is growing at a rate of 50% a year. It achieved a $ 1 billion annual run rate in revenue back in February. It has 57% of the converged infrastructure market, and 1,200 Vblocks have been deployed since the launch of the company Nov. 3, 2009.