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Cisco Spills Beans on Next SAN Router: Page 2 of 4

The second version of the box will be twice as fast as the current one and will have more high-performance features, including security, Cree said, cautioning that Cisco won't give out specifics until closer to the shipping date next year.

Could Cisco be morphing its product into a switch? No. Cree insisted it's still a router. He says iSCSI will make the biggest splash where Fibre Channel isn’t installed -- mainly in the low-end 10/100 Ethernet market.

“We need to crank up the iSCSI drivers available for the various server flavors,” he said. Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) is first on the list, with an iSCSI driver for Windows expected shortly. A version for AIX-based platforms from IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and HP/UX servers from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HWP) is expected to follow mid-2002. “We have several deals hinging on these drivers coming up.” Cree expects revenues from iSCSI products to start making a difference within 24 months.

He was unable to provide any details on the Andiamo Systems Inc. situation -- the company Cisco set up earlier this year to build a giant SAN switch that will ultimately compete with Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD), Cisco's partner in this market today. “I am under a strict NDA,” he said (see All Eyes on Cisco).

Despite the alliance with Brocade, Cree admits that as Cisco moves into the core of the Fibre Channel market, it will have to face up to Brocade and McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDT) as competitors.