Cisco and Microsoft Interoperability
Just over a year ago today, Microsoft and Cisco announced plans to deepen their technological collaboration to meet customer demand for improved interoperability between their respective software and networking products.
The initiative was jointly launched by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers, and is currently being spearheaded operationally by Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft, and Kathy Hill, senior vice president of Access and Networking Services at Cisco.
Following the one-year anniversary of the announcement, PressPass spoke with Muglia and Hill to get a progress report on the collaboration, how customers are benefiting and where the relationship goes from here.
Q: When you originally embarked on this collaboration a year ago, what was your objective?
Hill: A year ago we announced a commitment to working together so that our customers can be successful regardless of whose solutions they choose. Our approach is based on a commitment that where we do compete, we will continue to address our customers’ needs for interoperability between our respective products.
Muglia: Yes, our customers were very clear in voicing their desire for greater interoperability between their Cisco networking gear and Microsoft software. Cisco and Microsoft have participated in many areas of customer-driven interoperability for more than a decade. In fact, prior to the 2007 announcement we accelerated many areas of collaboration to better address our customers’ needs - from IT architecture to security to management scenarios. Last year, we realized we needed to do a better job communicating to our customers about those areas of collaboration and how committed the companies are to providing highly interoperable solutions.
Q: What have been the chief accomplishments of Microsoft and Cisco’s interoperability work over the past year?
Muglia: Last year, we outlined the work we were doing across seven areas: IT architecture, security, management, wireless and mobile, unified communications, connected entertainment and small and medium-sized businesses (SMB).
While we continue to make progress in each of these areas, the three that stand out over the past year are network optimization, IT architecture and connected entertainment.
A great example of this progress is Cisco’s work in optimizing customer networks for efficient deployment of Microsoft software. This Cisco network optimization for Microsoft applications has helped our customers deploy SharePoint, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 out into branch offices and over their wide area networks (WANs). It’s an arena in which we’ve been able to work harmoniously together, generating some nice synergies between our respective technologies for the benefit of our mutual customers.
I’d also highlight our joint efforts embedding Windows Server 2008 on Cisco’s Wide-Area Appliance Service (WAAS) branch office solution (called “Windows Server on WAAS”), which gives our customers an integrated appliance for their branch offices. It provides customers with a single solution that delivers the core IT services of Windows Server 2008 at the branch location, improving efficiency and responsiveness, while relieving the network for quick and reliable application delivery.
Finally, I think this joint commitment has allowed us to be very upfront and open with our customers about our unified communications offerings, spelling out how we will compete and how our software will work with Cisco products.
Hill: It has been a productive year, as Bob explained. We’ve also made progress in a few other areas.
Cisco recently decided to join Microsoft and other vendors as a member of TSANet, an industry organization that is trying to make it easier for companies to manage multi-vendor IT contracts. I’d put this in a similar category to our ongoing work with the Interop Vendor Alliance, a community of software and hardware vendors dedicated to improving the interoperability of their products with Microsoft systems.
The other result we’re proud of is our continued momentum with Internet TV. In January, we launched the Linksys Media Extender, which works in conjunction with Windows Vista Media Center to deliver streamed content from the PC to the TV. Meanwhile, we recently surpassed the million-unit mark for shipments of Cisco IP set-top boxes supporting the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV platform. That’s powerful proof of the business case for the work we’ve done together.
Besides these developments, I’d really underscore the importance of Windows on WAAS, which is a great example of the kind of mutually-beneficial initiative this collaboration has made possible. It’s a scenario in which the two companies joined forces to be better together. Customers can use two solutions that actually enhance each other. We are truly going to market hand-in-hand, which our customers have really appreciated.
Q: What other benefits have Cisco and Microsoft’s mutual customers seen?
Muglia: By providing our customers with a clear picture of where we’re working together, now and into the future, we’re helping them make informed investment decisions with reduced risk and as much foresight as possible. It is our goal to make sure our customers know where we stand so they have the peace of mind that they are not locked into a particular piece of technology as their needs evolve. This clear picture allows them to evaluate the technology that represents the best fit for their specific needs, based solely on its merits, without needing to juggle other considerations.
I think we’ve been able to help ensure that our customers can deploy the very latest Microsoft software as easily as possible and that it will work with the Cisco networking solutions. To provide more information about this effort, we worked with Cisco to produce a white paper detailing how Cisco’s network optimization can help customers deploy Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Windows Vista more efficiently with lower risk and at a reduced cost.
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