It's an absolutely genius move. There's a huge amount of mark-up that's tolerated in server products (by consumers), mainly because of the integration of the server with monitoring software, etc. If Cisco can introduce a whole new concept into the datacenter, servers that are tightly integrated with routing, they'll create a whole new market which they will dominate.

Of course, HP got wind of this before the product was announced and is already pounding Cisco with their integrated offering. So the HP offering might actually hurt Cisco more than the Cisco offering helps.

Swim with the sharks, and you'll eventually get eaten.

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