6/19/2006 -- Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced a new integrated switch that's designed specifically for Hewlett-Packard's new BladeSystem c-Class servers.

Cisco says its Catalyst Blade Switch 3020 offers high availability, enhanced security, QoS and flexible management for BladeSystem c-Class customers.

The Catalyst Blade Switch 3020 connects 16 Gigabit Ethernet ports via internal connections on the HP BladeSystem and also has eight external Gigabit Ethernet ports that provide connectivity to the rest of the network. The Blade Swtich 3020 is powered by IOS, can be managed by CiscoWorks, by command line or via a Web-based GUI. Cisco's new blade-ready switch will be sold primarily through HP, as well as Cisco authorized resellers.

Analysts say Cisco's new BladeSystem-ready offering could be particularly well-timed -- although the blade-specific switching market remains an unproven segment. "[I]t gives Cisco and HP customers the opportunity to use an end-to-end Cisco solution in their data center," says Steven Schuchart, a senior analyst for enterprise infrastructure with Current Analysis. "The blade server switching market is beginning to pop, but it is unclear whether or not customers are deeply concerned about the brand of switch installed in their blade server platforms."

One potential showstopper, Schuchart notes, is pricing: At $4,400 for a 16-port Gigabit Ethernet switch, the Catalyst Blade Switch 3020 is no bargain, even taking into account the specialty form factor of blade server systems, Schuchart points out. "Overall, the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020 for HP is a nice feather in Cisco's cap, but only a very small piece of the switching puzzle and will not change Cisco's position in any significant way."

Cisco has already released a specialty-form-factor switch for IBM's BladeCenter systems. The upside -- for some customers, anyway -- is one-throat-to-choke homogeneity. "The main positive for Cisco is the ability to provide a true end-to-end solution that can be managed by Cisco's software and maintained by Cisco's services. For customers that already have a Cisco network, this is a compelling argument on a 'one neck to choke' basis," Schuchart suggests. "Furthermore, Cisco is the only large switching vendor selling blade server switches, as Nortel has gotten out of the business and sold its technology to inspirationally named Blade Network Technology Inc."

Cisco's announcement isn't without delicious irony of a sort, Schuchart notes: "Cisco has also issued a competitive blow to its switching rival, ProCurve...[by] reaffirming ProCurve's outsider status within [HP] corporate."

Cisco isn't the only manufacturer of specialty blade switches, however. The networking giant faces tough competition -- on the pricing front, especially -- from Blade Network Technologies (BNT), which released a blade server switch the same day that Cisco released the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020 for HP. BNT's blade server switch doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of Cisco's solution (it has only five uplink ports to the Catalyst switch's eight), Schuchart notes, but it's also cheaper than Cisco's Cadillac of blade switches. "There are some differences in numbers of uplink ports...as well as Cisco providing port diversity, but the compelling price difference of $3,100 makes a lot of that pain go away," Schuchart points out. "There is also the possibility that there will be even more competition in this market from merchant silicon vendors selling reference designs with much lower product margins. It is certain that blade servers will continue to commoditize and this commoditization will flow to the switches inside the boxes as well, making the entire venture into blade server switches a low stakes proposition for Cisco." -Stephen Swoyer