Cisco promoting "intelligent" IT networks

Cisco Systems' strategy for staying atop the networking-gear market revolves around building "intelligent" devices. That became apparent late last year with the unveiling of the Cisco service-oriented architecture, or SONA, model.

According to Cisco, SONA offers a means of embedding the functionality needed to run an IT network—such as the ability to manage security, compress and cache data, and balance processing loads—inside devices such as routers and switches. Currently, these tasks are handled by server-based software.

Analysts say SONA, as well as Cisco's application-oriented networking model, differentiates the vendor in a competitive market. "If they merely continue shipping boxes, they're in the mode of selling a commodity," says Rick Sturm of Enterprise Management Associates, Boulder, Colo. "They would have to continually respond to competitors' price cuts. SONA makes it difficult for competitors to step up, because it's such a significant shift."