VMware's (VMW -0.6%) purchase of Nicira is a "significant negative" for Cisco (CSCO -5.9%) and Juniper (JNPR -1.2%), argues MKM. The firm notes Google (a big supporter of software-defined networking) has reportedly installed Nicira's software in its newest data center, and that Cisco generates $14B/year in switch sales at a ~60% gross margin. Other Nicira customers include AT&T, eBay, NTT, and (notably, given its cloud infrastructure presence) Rackspace. (earlier)