It's Official: Cisco is a Software Company, Too

For more than a decade, Cisco Systems claimed it’s serious about the software market. Now, CIOs are finally listening to Cisco’s software claims. Here’s the proof — and the implications for Cisco’s channel partners.

First, the proof: Goldman Sachs recently asked CIOs which software companies would earn more of their IT budget over the next 12 months. Now for the twist: Cisco’s software portfolio was ranked No. 7 on a list of 10 vendors that would garner more software dollars from CIOs.

Hmmm. How did Cisco turn previous software disappointments into recent software victories? Acquiring WebEx and melding it with unified communications and TelePresence certainly helped. But the story doesn’t end there.

Cisco has also succeeded quite a bit in the open source market, despite a legal run-in involving the Free Software Foundation. One prime example: Cisco generated considerable buzz with a recent Linux-oriented developer contest.

This story has one more twist. Cisco’s unified communications and unified computing strategies essentially position the company head-on against Microsoft, Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Translation: Cisco is the new IBM, essentially competing across multiple hardware, software and services markets.

For VARs, it’s time to choose sides: Bet on Microsoft’s Windows Server-centric view of unified computing. Or ante up with Cisco’s network-centric view of unified computing. If you place your bets on Cisco, just be sure to study up on the company’s software strategy. Apparently, CIOs already have.

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