Cisco is introducing a hypervisor for running its own applications. NFVIS-for-UC is intended to offer an alternative for organizations that are virtualizing their telephone systems but do not want to purchase the expensive VMware Cloud Foundation.
For years, Cisco has required customers to run applications such as Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) in VMs. It does this to deliver a standardized, stable experience. For a long time, VMware was the standard for rolling out these virtual machines. However, because Broadcom has bundled all kinds of products in VMware Cloud Foundation, customers are often faced with higher costs. Those who run CUCM will eventually no longer need to turn to VMware.
Cisco announced the hypervisor last year as a lightweight tool with “only the essential virtualization features.” The company is positioning the solution for organizations looking for a stable, easy-to-manage hypervisor without being dependent on third-party platforms or the cloud. At the same time, Cisco also added support for Nutanix’s AHV hypervisor. Together with Nutanix and Pure Storage, Cisco is also working on a major VMware alternative. When it comes to the hypervisor alone, this is just as much of a bulky option, which is why Cisco’s own hypervisor may be of interest.
Based on existing technology
Cisco does not seem to have any plans to make its offering attractive to organizations that aren’t using specific applications from the company’s portfolio. The new hypervisor, NFVIS-for-UC, only supports Cisco’s call solutions. The company already has Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure Software (NFVIS), which runs networking workloads on some appliances. NFVIS-for-UC is a special edition with a separate product ID, adjusted prices, new licenses, and a slightly different management interface.
The product is not yet available, but Cisco has already promised to make it available this quarter. On February 5, the company published a virtualization guide stating that updated software versions are ready for the new hypervisor. This seems to bring an exit strategy for VMware customers closer.
Nothing new in the market
Product-specific hypervisors are not new. Citrix withdrew from the general hypervisor market to focus on its own applications. For Cisco, the strategy therefore begins with that restriction. For customers, it may mean that running multiple hypervisors becomes the obvious choice. For example, those who moved from VMware to Nutanix still had to go through VMware owner Broadcom to run CUCM. Now that Cisco has its own offering, that does not mean that the technical setup will become simpler.
VMware and Nutanix, in turn, are unlikely to see Cisco’s move as a threat. Broadcom is targeting the largest customers who fully embrace VCF. So far, this has brought the company growing VMware revenue and big deals. Partners who once formed the basis of VMware’s global customer network have largely been sidelined.
Alternatives are gaining ground
Broadcom keeps smaller vSphere bundles available on paper, but users with expiring contracts report that only VCF is on the table when it comes to renewal. Smaller organizations are being actively discouraged from staying with VMware Cloud Foundation, according to an example from The Register.
‘Real’ alternatives to VMware, and thus the entire stack, vary. HPE VME has already proven to be a more ambitious equivalent of the VMware stack than what Cisco is currently preparing. The further development of that product will make it even more of a like-for-like replacement in the coming years. HPE VME is based on KVM and attempts to steer potential VMware leavers away from Nutanix in particular.