Silver Peak Systems appears to be the new culprit in Cisco's WAN optimization controllers (WOCs) market share loss
Gartner's January 2012 Magic Quandrant WAN optimization controllers (WOCs) report revealed the following tidbit about Cisco: "WAAS is now part of the branch router business and is therefore receiving attention from senior leadership."
2 months ago I blogged that Cisco was losing market share in a major data center segment, WAN optimization. Infonetics' data center and cloud analyst Sam Barnett revealed that as of 4Q11, Cisco's WAN optimization market share had dropped to 23.7% from 30.1% in 3Q09.
The obvious competitive culprit in Cisco's WAN optimization market share loss is Riverbed Technology.
However, according to Gartner's January 2012 Magic Quandrant WAN optimization controllers (WOCs) report, a new competitive culprit, Silver Peak Systems, also appears to be responsible for Cisco's WAN optimization market share loss:
Gartner analysts Joe Skorupa and Severine Real revealed the following tidbits about Cisco in their January 2012 Magic Quandrant WAN optimization controllers (WOCs) report:
"WAAS is now part of the branch router business and is therefore receiving attention from senior leadership.
"In general, Cisco is a slow follower whose vision is limited to an incremental product road map. The company is consistently very late with support for new protocols... Initial software quality has been problematic, with some problems remaining unsolved for months or longer.
"We still hear about client issues, such as complicated installation and configuration. The products can be very difficult to install and maintain, particularly in complex networks. Uneven presales and postsales support exacerbates the problem globally.
"The management interface continues to appear clumsy, with a lack of functional integration among Cisco WAN products."
