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The following content is from an older version of this website, and may not display correctly.As predicted, EMC is taking over VCE, as Cisco has agreed to sell the majority of its stake in the joint venture which sells Vblock converged systems.
"VCE will become an EMC business," said the eventual EMC release. "Cisco and VMware will continue as strategic partners and investors, with Cisco having an approximately 10 percent equity interest in VCE." The announcement was predicted by Bloomberg, after EMC said it would announce a "new business development"
Staying together for the children?
The three main partners who launched VCE in 2010, EMC Cisco and VMware, will continue to provide converged hardware and software for datacenters, based on Cisco's UCS networking and computing platform, along with EMC's storage, but now EMC owns the business, and will pay fees to Cisco for the kit.
VCE will continue as an entity, led by the same management team under CEO Praveen Akkiraju.
"VCE’s charter will focus on simplifying the deployment of hybrid clouds, including a full range of converged infrastructure offerings, applying its unique innovations and expertise to a broad range of hybrid cloud solutions," said the EMC release, which promised that VCE's Vblocks converged hardware would continue to develop.
VCE hasn't set the world on fire: it claims its run rate puts it on target to make a $1.8 billion turnover this year, but Cisco is actually making a loss on the project, according to Bloomberg. Having invested some $700 milion, Cisco owns 35 percent of VCE, but the other partners compete with other aspects of Cisco's empire. In particular, VMware is pushing hard for SDN with its Nicira acquisition.
EMC has faced increasing speculation recently, on the imminent retirement of its CEO Joe Tucci, and on reports that it is either planning to merge with HP, or sell off its VMware infrastructure subsidiary in response to pressure from investors.