
The Prophecy of Meraki
I like to prognosticate around the end of the year, but sometimes the signs (omens) just can’t wait. I am referring of course to the Prophecy of Meraki, or Cisco’s Wi-Fi from the clouds. I’ve always liked Meraki, I think the concept makes a lot of sense. But it’s over. Meraki is unlikely to see 2015. […]

Voice in the Clouds
The voice in the cloud is not the creator of the universe, but rather some 800 service providers after your wallet. And they are getting it. Hosted voice and UCaaS is growing at an impressive clip. The premise vendors can’t ignore it any more. While Avaya, for example, touts that it grew IP office sales 46 percent […]

A Preview of VMworld–On VMware’s Cunning Plans
In a couple of weeks I’ll be in San Francisco for VMware annual conference, VMworld. This will actually be my first time attending the even in person and I suspect I’ve chosen the best year to be there – there are some seismic shifts occurring in VMware’s business and I

Cloud Migration – The Pain And The Opportunity
Running a number of businesses, some using the cloud and some not, I’ve seen firsthand the reality of what it takes to move systems from traditional on-premise delivery to the cloud. Whether it’s because of push-back from users, IT department concerns, functional gaps or differences in the way applications are written, the migration is hard. […]

Cisco Calls the Skype Kettle Black
I didn’t see this one coming – but it makes perfect sense. Cisco communicates to the EU that Microsoft and Skype together may not be such a good thing for the industry, and thus appealed the approval of the merger to the EU. That isn’t in itself too surprising until you consider that the EU […]

10 Reasons Why RIM Won’t Die
It has been fun to kick RIM. Text book example of why incumbents get disrupted – they owned/invented email on a mobile phone. They invented the smartphone. We used to call their addicts ’”Crackberries.” But they (along with everyone else) underestimated Apple. Blackberry had a huge market share – relationships with every major cellular carrier, a […]

Cloupia Gets Flexpod Validation As They Push Hard Into Converged Infrastructure Space
Cloupia (previous CloudAve coverage), the Santa Clara based startup offering automation and orchestration solutions, today announced that their FlexPod Management and Automation solution is validated by Cisco and NetApp. This is a big boost for the startup taking a different route compared to the other cloud management players. Unlike companies like Rightscale which are solely […]

Will You Pay 15% More For Converged Infrastructure?
As tech media goes in an overdrive highlighting the game changing nature of cloud computing, enterprises are embracing converged infrastructure at an increasing rate. Some predictions that came out at the end of 2010 claimed that 30% of the data centers will use converged infrastructure in the next 2-3 years. I am not sure how […]

Cisco Snags AXIOSS
Cisco intends to acquire AXIOSS from the UK subsidiary (formerly Axiom Systems) of parent company Comptel Corporation of Helsinki. Why? Because it will enable Cisco to extend network and service management across its platforms and enable service providers to launch new video, mobility, data, and cloud services faster. In other words, Cisco bought this technology to […]

THE SOCIAL PHD: 9 Sure Fire Ways to Become a Social Business (Video)
We were able to assemble a powerful cast of experts to give the rest of us advice on becoming a Social Business. But we did it with one catch. We asked these 9 experts to do it in under 60 seconds. Thank you Robert Lavigne for essentially doing all of the video, post production and […]

Enterprise Tablets: Hurry and Get One Before They Are Gone
The Cius is here. That makes two enterprise UC tablets: Cisco Cius and Avaya Desktop Video Device with the Flare Experience. First some clarifications and differences, then a few conclusions. These devices do not compete with each other. The Cisco Cius is for Cisco UC customers and the Avaya Desktop Video Device is for Avaya […]

Skype For Asterisk Was Already Dead!
The big story this week (so far), Skype for Asterisk (SFA) comes to its end. The official notification reads: Skype for Asterisk will not be available for sale or activation after July 26, 2011. Skype for Asterisk was developed by Digium in cooperation with Skype. It includes proprietary software from Skype that allows Asterisk to […]

Google’s Disruption Of Enterprise Email Market And Their “Social Challenges”
Ever since Gmail captured the imagination of consumers, Google has been trying to push Google Apps to enterprise customers. In spite of some news about problems in their implementation for big customers, it has been gaining traction steadily. The biggest attraction towards Google Apps Email over other systems is the cost. Even though other players […]

Cisco UMI: A Non Starter?
After a long wait, Cisco unveiled their personal telepresence offering, Cisco UMI, targeting consumers and small businesses. For the past few years, Cisco has been pitching their video vision to anyone who is willing to listen. In fact, they are right about the importance of video in the future and a perfect strategy for them. […]

Cisco Planning To Acquire Skype To Target Consumer Market?
Mike Arrington has made a post talking about a possible acquisition of Skype by Cisco. According to him there are talks to acquire Skype at a price near $5 Billion before they complete the IPO process. Cisco has made an offer to acquire Skype before they complete their IPO process, says one of our more […]