With the launch of UCS, Cisco Systems has entered the highly competitive computer service market and will go against tough competitors such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard.  

 

The USC new architecture integrates networking, storage access and virtualization resources. Cisco said the innovative system is very energy efficient, reduces IT infrastructure costs and improves business agility. 

 

“We enter markets when we see an inflection point and this is the third of a five phase approach to our datacentre strategy," said Cisco’s chief executive officer. 

 

Cisco, a San Jose, Calif.-head quartered multinational company with more than 66,000 employees, has launched the UCS after several months of speculation. The new system, says Cisco, will mainly target data centers and telecommunications and storage systems. 

 

The new datacenter will feature the UCS B-series blade server which runs Intel’s latest chip, the Nehalem processor. More technical details about the UCS will be unveiled in April, said the company’s designate executive VP Rob Lloyd. 

 

The fact that Cisco entered this market, which makes it the third major player after IBM and HP, highlights the fact that the data centers market has become an important battleground in which the request from Internet traffic carriers is more and more focused on energy efficiency and low costs and IT agility. Mr. Chambers said the UCS is able to provide companies with an up to 20% reduction in capital and 30% in operational expenditures.

 

The launch of the UCS did not affect Cisco’s shares much. Cisco share dropped 6 cents to $15.45 Monday.