Cisco dumps its Hyperflex hyperconverged infrastructure

Cisco has discontinued its HyperFlex hyperconverged infrastructure products.

The IT goliath told The Register coming "evolving customer needs and marketplace dynamics" made it rethink its plans for nan equipment, which mixed a hybrid unreality package stack and Cisco's ain Unified Computing System, aliases UCS, servers to connection a rival to nan likes of VMware and Dell's vXRail, aliases Nutanix and HPE's HCI offerings (HCI being short for hyperconverged infrastructure).

Hyperscalers looming complete nan marketplace are different challenge. Oracle, for one, conscionable shrank its on-premises unreality into an offering that competes pinch larger hyperconverged rigs.

Cisco has not offered a elaborate mentation of its determination to propulsion nan plug connected HyperFlex, telling america it was "timed to champion support our customers, partners, and employees." A Cisco spokesperson assured The Register it "remains committed to simplifying hybrid multi-cloud operations."

But Nutanix, not Cisco, gets nan occupation of making that happen. The 2 precocious announced a business to tally Nutanix's package stack connected Cisco hardware and – critically – person Cisco salespeople waste nan resulting rigs and people commissions, moreover for nan Nutanix codification they shift.

Cisco has promised 5 years of support and work for HyperFlex customers.

That connection is complicated, though, for customers who tally VMware's ESXi hypervisor pinch HyperFlex. Cisco will not certify early versions of ESXi to tally connected its hardware, leaving VMware customers to either persist pinch ESXi 8.0 erstwhile it exits support, aliases tally unsupported code.

Another prime is migrating distant from HyperFlex wholly – a script for which Cisco has helpfully published a white paper. One action is conscionable to scrub HyperFlex and usage nan boxes it runs connected arsenic vanilla UCS servers.

Users committed to nan level person clip to prepare. Cisco will judge orders for HyperFlex hardware and package until March 12, 2024, and will effort to vessel it each earlier June 10 of nan aforesaid year.

• Cisco adjacent to clearing nan backlog of hardware orders a definite microorganism caused
• Cloud is present to stay, but customers are starting to mobility nan cost
• Toyota servers ran retired of storage, collapsed accumulation astatine 14 plants successful Japan
• The early of nan unreality judge looks for illustration it'll beryllium paved successful moreover much civilization silicon

But symptom still lies ahead: Cisco's FAQ connected nan discontinuation explains that HyperFlex licenses won't beryllium usable arsenic in installments for Nutanix products. The 2 suppliers "are moving connected a number of migration offers," though, pinch nan vendors people happy to chat astir those.

Tired of being an "other"

In The Reg's view, Cisco is apt binning HyperFlex because it conscionable didn't waste that overmuch of it.

IDC information from precocious 2022, cited by VMware, lists HPE arsenic nan third-biggest subordinate pinch 7.3 percent marketplace share, good down VMware's 41 percent marketplace stock and Nutanix's 25 percent slice. That leaves Cisco location successful nan "Other" category's 26.8 percent of nan market.

Cisco has been contented for its UCS servers to inhabit a niche – it trumpeted spot successful nan leaf server world without ever troubling nan likes of Dell, HPE, aliases Lenovo. HyperFlex seemingly did excessively small to alteration that, and gave Cisco nan load of maintaining a guidance package stack astatine a clip it's moving astir of its devices to nan unreality and subscription models.

Switchzilla besides has small tolerance for business units that don't standard to a definite size aliases connection maturation prospects. With hyperscale unreality a threat to each server makers, and hybrid unreality reducing nan request for piles and piles of on-prem boxes, it's not difficult to spot why Cisco has decided HyperFlex's clip is done.

Smaller and/or unfastened root HCI players person proven they tin win agelong word – nan likes of Scale Computing person mostly gone nether nan radar for years, while Reg readers often singing nan praises of Proxmox VE. We besides perceive that China has a vigorous harvest of HCI vendors – astir of which guidelines their products connected unfastened root codification – and that converged compute and retention is appreciated by nan Middle Kingdom's mid-market companies.

Cisco, however, intelligibly won't beryllium chasing that market.

Whether it continues to fuss pinch servers astatine each will apt go nan taxable of further speculation. The Register besides wonders what nan determination to ditch HyperFlex intends for different niche HCI offerings from large vendors, specified arsenic IBM's SpectrumFusion. ®