Hi Khan,
Here's another take on the Business Week article.
boards.fool.com
The author references us to an article I recall reading but then had lost track of...
--alan
The Business Week story recalls to mind this article in Internet Connexion from Sept. 1999. (Which along with numerous drive-bys of their Alameda headquarters & Allen Benn's ongoing commentary on SI, was what got me interested in WIND initially:
ixix.com
Some excerpts:
Intel's IXP 1200 network processor combined with WindRiver's VxWorks real-time operating system is aimed to "commoditize" the network equipment industry. Intel executives have openly claimed that IXA will turn companies like Cisco Systems into the likes of Dell. But will that really happen?...If Intel and WindRiver successfully deliver, and we think they will, the duo will be able to commoditize a big percentage of the industry...
The real-time operating system that runs on a network processor is essential. And in this respect, WindRiver could very well become the Microsoft of the network equipment industry. VxWorks could be to the network equipment industry what MS Windows is to the PC industry...
The Windtel duo will put great pressure on Cisco. Vendors using IXA and VxWorks will undoubtedly start making "Cisco-compatible" routers and switches at rock bottom prices. How will Cisco compete with these
clone makers? The future of Cisco will depend on their ability to tackle several problems...
If you can't beat them, join them. In order to remain price competitive, Cisco must also start using network processors in their product line. And on the question of whether they will continue their relationship with IBM or switch to Intel, we believe that at some point they will switch to Intel. Not having "Inside Intel" is simply too risky. If they do not use Inside inside, they will miss out on the performance improvements that Intel is known to deliver.
Cisco will also have to make IOS into an open, modular, and fault-tolerant real-time operating system. This is an absolute requirement for the carrier market and also for a network processor-based product line. IOS as it is today is too big and too old to be ported to any network processor. But will Cisco rely on VxWorks since it is already in use in several of its products? We believe that VxWorks will still be used extensively in many of Cisco's products. But we can only speculate if VxWorks will serve as the foundation for an open, modular, and fault-tolerant IOS.
The writer goes on to propose an optimum strategy for WIND & to speculate on the possibility of the company being acquired by one of the usual suspects: Intel, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, or (god - or the DOJ - forbid) Microsoft...His most likely candidate is Sun.
Does anyone out there have an update to this article or this information?
-zamyatin |
