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Cisco Takes Spinnaker for a Spin: Page 2 of 4

And because Spinnaker's NAS software is based on an off-the-shelf Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) processor, it could have easily been ported to a blade form factor, the source says. But the source notes that while "Spinnaker has great technology... technology doesn't always win."

Cisco and Spinnaker representatives declined to comment.

When Cisco launched the MDS 9000 line and announced its plans to spin in Andiamo last year, the company said the switches would eventually provide "intelligent storage services," serving as an "open platform for hosting third-party storage applications such as network-based virtualization." (See Cisco Buys Andiamo.)

So far, Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) is the only third-party software vendor that has publicly stepped forward with plans to port its software to the Andiamo platform. Otherwise, Cisco has not revealed which other applications may be in the works (see Veritas Supports Cisco MDS 9000 and Cisco Makes SAN Software Friends).

In another twist, Cisco may be downplaying this strategy because of pushback from storage systems vendors, according to an industry analyst who did not want to be identified. The storage vendors are "under the distinct impression from Cisco that [it] might drop some of these higher-layer features... in return for giving [Cisco] more shelf space," the analyst says. "There's some horse trading going on."