Drue Reeves, Research Dir, Burton Group

Dell vs. Cisco: Networking Challenge?

It's not just the communications and phone networks Dell and Cisco are fighting over, it's Ethernet storage too. iSCSI and FCoE are headed for a battle royale (although both companies will eventually support both protocols). But there's enough confusion amongst customers that the question of iSCSI or FCoE is getting stronger.

Both want a unified fabric through data center Ethernet...but protocols matter to achieving this vision.