Cisco Is Wishfully Wishing for FCoE Sales ?
March 13, 2009 by Greg Ferro · 3 Comments
Omar Sultan from Cisco is wishing that FCoE would actually get some sales.
You see, Cisco bought Nuova Systems to rush FCoE to market as the Nexus 5000 switch. But someone forgot to complete the standards work, and now this is causing problems. Customers are obviously concerned that FCoE has NOT been standardised.
Both the ANSI and IEEE are moving slowly on completing the standards work for FCoE and its supporting CEE etherent technologies. Cisco must have hoped that they would have been finished by now and might be getting nervous that things are moving slowly.
I think Omar is wishing that people would stop worrying about standards and just put their money down. Nervous are we ?
There is a lovely quote here on Cisco’s Data Centre blog
“Its also important to note, as Silvano Gai, who literally wrote the book on FCoE, pointed out, standards are organic things. If they are going to be useful and stay relevant, standards need to remain organic, so waiting for a standard to be “done” is kinda pointless.”
Huh, what ? Standards don’t matter ?
Is that a used car you are trying to sell ?
I’m thinking that if Omar (chief FCoE standard bearer for the entire world) tell us that standards don’t matter then sales are slow. If sales are slow, then FCoE might not cross the adoption gap.….
PS. I read the book. Review: Cisco’s documentation is better.
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Greg:
Sadly, I am not “chief” anything – my wife will tell you that!
As far as FCoE is concerned, what you term “rushing to market” could just as easily be termed establishing a leadership position – which is currently forcing folks like Brocade and Juniper to play catch-up. After all, Nuova was established back in 2005, so its not like this is something we did on a whim. So nervous? No, not in the least.
And the point of the post, which you so artfully avoided, was that FCoE is a lot further along than some folks, including you, apparently, would have people believe – we expect FCoE to be finalized by June – 3 months from now.
Finally, I did not say “standards” don’t matter, anywhere. What I did say is that 1) the standard has progressed to the point that if someone invests now, they are not going to be selling the switch on eBay in a year because the final standard made the switch obsolete, 2) as related standards firm up, we will update our switches to be compliant, and 3) from a practical perspective, the standard, any standard, will continue to evolved and change, which is a good thing – we are not baking a cake here – there is no point when it is “done”.
So, Greg, I know we are on different side of the FCoE fence, but, as always, I appreciate the conversation.
Regards,
Omar
Ah, sophistry.
FCOE might be ready in 3 months IF Brocade doesn’t stonewall you. Given that originally you said Sept 2008 the track record isn’t good.
And don’t forget that the IEEE isn’t moving quickly on CEE which is equally vital for FCoE to get acceptance.
Waiting for a standard to be done is ALWAYS worthwhile. I have been screwed too many times to move without the standards.
I still believe that FCoE will not cross the gap and will be a dead end technology except as a legacy migration technology.
Greg:
Not sophistry – the intent was not to deceive, but to educate. There are a lot of assertions running around about FCoE, so my goal was a fair and accurate representation of where things stand. If someone chooses to go the FCoE route, I’d like them to make an informed decision. Every customer has different requirements and I’d rather give them data and let them balance risk/reward then make a decision for them.
As for the future of FCoE..well, we will just have to see.…until the story plays itself out, I am sure we will continue to have an interesting conversation.
Have a good Friday,
Omar