Cisco Closes Acquisition Of Springpath As Data Center Innovation Continues At 'Breaking Speed'

#HyperFlex and its Unified Computing System (#UCS) product lines. " #Cisco is innovating at breaking speed in the data center," said Kent MacDonald, vice president of business development at Long View Systems, a Calgary, Alberta-based and top Cisco partner. "This year they've really focused on updating and refreshing a lot of their data center portfolio to make it simpler and more easy to consume for customers. … #Springpath will be an important ingredient to their strategy there." #Cisco spent $320 million to buy the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based startup, which developed a distributed file system purpose-built for #hyperconvergence that enables server-based storage systems. "Springpath is strategic to our data center portfolio as we transition to delivering software-centric solutions to our customers," said Liz Centoni, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's Computing Systems Product Group, in a blog post. "As one team, I am excited for the synergistic possibilities ahead to redefine hyperconvergence further and deliver seamless multi-cloud experiences for our customers. This acquisition will further fuel the incredible momentum we have seen in the adoption and deployment of this solution over the last several quarters." HyperFlex currently has more than 1,800 customers across the globe, while UCS has more than 60,000, according to Cisco. In 2017, the San Jose, Calif.-based network leader has doubled down on product launches, refreshes and enhancements in the data center. In March, Cisco completely revamped its hyper-converged system with the launch of HyperFlex Systems 2.5 with new features and capabilities. In August, the vendor unwrapped the next generation of its flagship server line with the new UCS M5 line that includes blade and rack servers. Just last week the company said it was bringing its Meraki cloud-based management strategy to the data center with Cisco Intersight, an automation and management platform for UCS and HyperFlex. Long View's MacDonald said he was excited to see Cisco's data center vision coming together around automation, scalability and simplicity. "We're seeing [that] one of the motivating conversations with customers is, 'I want to take cost out of my IT, and I want to reduce complexity.' That is where we're seeing HyperFlex becoming a contender," he said. Cisco launched HyperFlex in March 2016 thanks to a strategic partnership with Springpath, which was founded by former VMware storage engineers.

http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300092666/cisco-closes-acquisition-of-springpath-as-data-center-innovation-continues-at-breaking-speed.htm

Springpath Will Drive HyperFlex Innovation, Giving Cisco More 'Firepower' Against HPE-SimpliVity, Partners Say

Partners are bullish on the future of #Cisco #HyperFlex as the networking giant acquires #hyperconverged software developer #Springpath for $320 million and doubles down on #UCS innovation through its new UCS M5 product line. Solution providers said they are expecting to win more hyper-converged deals within the next 12 months and have more "firepower" against competitors like #HewlettPackardEnterprise ( #HPE ) thanks to bringing #Spingpath in-house with the potential of ramping up the #HyperFlex innovation engine.  " #Cisco really needed a solid play in the #hyperconvergedinfrastructure space. With #SimpliVity getting snapped up [by HPE] and #Nutanix building its business to stand alone, Cisco needed to do an acquisition to land them squarely in this space," said Michael Knight, CTO of solution provider Encore Technology Group, a #Cisco Gold partner. [Related: 5 Ways Partners Can Drive UCS Refreshes And New Wins With Cisco's M5 Servers] Springpath's software helps enterprises turn standard servers into a single pool of compute and storage resources. Its software platform eliminates the need for dedicated network storage and integrates into existing management tools. The company's early claim to fame was that of helping enterprises avoid vendor lock-in when it comes to network infrastructure. Also of note, though, is Springpath's ability to add new capabilities to its shared, converged infrastructure. The networking vendor could eventually include artificial intelligence (AI) for greater automation of networking security and computing, according to partners. The partner ecosystem could also build AI integrations into the solution, which would add greater value for customers and give partners a leg up against the competition. "Springpath allows them to drive more product innovation and they'll also own all the intellectual property," said Kent MacDonald, vice president of business development at Long View Systems, a Calgary, Alberta-based and top Cisco partner. "I'm excited to see how they can use the Cisco Innovation labs to drive even greater acceleration for feature functionality." HPE's Channel Chief Terry Richardson spoke with CRN this week about the company's 100 percent channel pledge for Nimble and SimpliVity. Richardson said the Nimble, SimpliVity pledge is aimed at Cisco. "A lot of [SimpliVity and Nimble's] success really grew up on what I would describe as the backs of the traditional legacy Cisco partner base," he said. "Those partners were wise in choosing those technologies. Now that both those companies are part of HPE what I have seen is a real shift in interest from those partners not only continuing the relationship with SimpliVity and Nimble but getting more interested in HPE." Cisco didn't comment on Richardson's statement. One top executive from a solution provider that partners with both Cisco and HPE said the networking giant needs Springpath in its arsenal to fight off HPE-SimpliVity. "Springpath gives Cisco that firepower in its in-house portfolio to have a more compelling story against the HPEs and Dells of the world," said the executive, who did not wish to be named. "Cisco can now say they own 100 percent of their hyper-converged [solution] … That speaks volumes about their commitment. Not only that but with the Cisco-SimpliVity partnership done with, it was a much-needed play for the channel." Although Cisco's data center sales dropped 4 percent to $837 million year-over-year during its fourth fiscal quarter, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said the company saw "solid traction" in HyperFlex bookings, although no official numbers were reported. "HyperFlex, our hyper converged offering combined with CloudCenter, is gaining traction with customers benefiting from simplicity and scalability to support their hybrid cloud strategy," said Robbins during Cisco's fourth quarter earnings conference call. In an interview with CRN, Todd Brannon, Cisco's director of product marketing for UCS, said the company just passed the 60,000 UCS customer mark thanks to an uptick in HyperFlex clients. "So we just passed 60,000 customers on UCS and 1,600 of those are HyperFlex," said Brannon. "We're seeing increased traction there. What's interesting about our HyperFlex business, is that about 30 percent of the customers that are coming in on HyperFlex are brand new to Cisco in terms of computing. They're not from our UCS install based. So 30 percent of those HyperFlex customers are actually brand new computing customers from Cisco." HyperFlex consists of UCS servers and software-defined storage technology from the hyper-converged startup Springpath. Cisco launched HyperFlex in March 2016 thanks to the strategic partnership with Springpath, which was founded by former VMware storage engineers. In March 2017, Cisco unveiled HyperFlex 2.5 that contained new features and capabilities such as the addition of high-capacity all-flash nodes and the HyperFlex Connect product. Long View's MacDonald said Hyperflex is resonating with customers seeking to reduce complexity in their data center. "We're seeing one of the motivating conversations with customers is, 'I want to take cost out of my IT, and I want to reduce complexity.' That is where we're seeing HyperFlex becoming a contender," said MacDonald. Regarding feature set, Springpath is on par with competitors Nutanix and SimpliVity, but the product isn't quite as mature, according to solution providers. Together with Cisco, HyperFlex will become a native product and more developed with deeper integrations across the Cisco stack. "There will be more partner adoption once Cisco owns the technology," Encore's Knight said. "I think there were a lot of partners that wanted to see what was going to happen before they went all in." Cisco expects to complete the acquisition of Springpath by the end of its fiscal 2018 first quarter in October. Cisco already owned an undisclosed stake in Springpath, and the vendor was rumored to be on the brink of acquiring Springpath as long ago as August of last year. The Springpath team will join Cisco's Computing Systems Product Group which is led by Liz Centoni, senior vice president and general manager of the group.

http://m.crn.com/news/networking/300090941/springpath-will-drive-hyperflex-innovation-giving-cisco-more-firepower-against-hpe-simplivity-partners-say.htm

Cisco to acquire key software partner Springpath for $320M

Three months after picking up artificial intelligence startup #MindMeld Inc. for $125 million, #Cisco Systems Inc. has inked another nine-figure acquisition. The networking giant plans to shell out $320 million to buy #Springpath Inc., a firm that develops software for #hyperconverged systems. It’s Cisco’s fifth acquisition of the year, and arguably the least surprising. Rumors about the deal have been making rounds since 2015, which is when the two companies first crossed paths. The first milestone was Cisco’s decision to become the lead investor in a $34 million funding round that Springpath closed that year. A few quarters later, they introduced a jointly developed hyper-converged system dubbed Hyperflex. Springpath restructured its operations in the following months to focus exclusively on the partnership with Cisco. The HyperFlex series has since become a core component of the networking giant’s hyperconverged infrastructure portfolio, racking up over 1,800 customers worldwide. Today’s acquisition will see Cisco absorb the team behind the software powering this key product line and gain full control of the technology assets. Longevity and performance The Springpath Data Platform, as it’s called, is touted as having been built specifically with hyper-converged infrastructure in mind. At the heart of a software is file system that can store information on storage drives embedded in low-cost commodity servers. Data is organized as a sequence of objects, an arrangement that Springpath claims can increase the longevity of the underlying hardware and improve performance. Yet while the assets that Cisco is absorbing are certainly valuable, the deal will likely have a limited impact at the market level since HyperFlex is already a key pillar of its product line. Another big factor is the company’s partner ecosystem. “ #Cisco ’s acquisition of #Springpath is unlikely to dramatically change the competitive landscape, since Cisco has dozens of storage partnerships (including with #NetApp, #IBM, #PureStorage, #DellEMC ) that contribute billions of dollars to Cisco’s #UCS and networking businesses,” said Wikibon Senior Analyst Stu Miniman. At the same time, many of those partners also compete with Cisco in the #hyperconverged infrastructure market. The company was at the forefront of the trend in its early days, but has since been overtaken by the likes of Dell EMC. “Cisco led the wave of converged infrastructure, but is trailing in a very competitive hyperconverged infrastructure market,” Miniman detailed. The acquisition of Springpath shows the company is willing to make big investments to improve its position in this segment. It comes eight months after Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. bought SimpliVity Corp., another early entrant into the hyperconvereged infrastructure race, for $650 million.

https://siliconangle.com/blog/2017/08/21/cisco-acquires-key-software-partner-springpath-320m/

Verizon Is Buying Straight Path for More Than $3 Billion

#Verizon Communications, the No.1 U.S. wireless carrier, is buying wireless spectrum holder #StraightPath Communications for an enterprise value of about $3.1 billion, ending a bidding war with rival #ATT. The $184 per share all-stock offer represents a discount of 17.8% to Straight Path's close on Wednesday and has an equity value of $2.3 billion. The stock surged nearly five-fold since April 7, a day before the company first received a $95.63 per share takeover bid from AT&T (T, +0.13%). Straight Path's shares (STRP, +0.88%), which had jumped 39% since Verizon (VZ, -0.39%) made its final bid on Monday, plunged 20% to $178 on Thursday, indicating some investors were disappointed with the deal. Straight Path, which holds a large trove of 28 GHz and 39 GHz millimeter wave spectrum used in mobile communications, will give Verizon an advantage in fifth-generation (5G) network development. 5G networks are expected to offer faster downloads and boost internet-reliant products such as self-driving cars. Straight Path had said on Monday an unnamed telecommunications company had raised its offer to buy the company. Reuters reported, citing sources, that the unnamed bidder was Verizon. Verizon's bid tops AT&T's offer of $95.63 per share, or $1.25 billion, which was announced last month. Straight Path, which earlier agreed to be bought by AT&T, said it would terminate the previously announced deal. Verizon will pay, on behalf of Straight Path, a termination fee of $38 million to AT&T. Evercore was financial adviser to Straight Path and Weil, Gotshal & Manges served as company counsel on the deal.Debevoise & Plimpton served as counsel to Verizon.

http://fortune.com/2017/05/11/verizon-straight-path/

Cisco polishes HALO, flashes enlarged HyperFlex

#Cisco has announced two #allflash #HyperFlex systems with an up to sixfold performance improvement. HyperFlex is Cisco's hyper-converged* infrastructure appliance (HCIA) offering, based on OEM'd Springpath HALO software, with Cisco's #UCS server and #Nexus networking components. These are, were, hybrid flash and disk systems. There are now HyperFlex 220c and 240c M4 all-flash nodes, both with 40Gbps networking. There can be three or more such nodes integrated into a single system with a pair of UCS 6200 or 6300 Series fabric interconnects. The systems have Xeon E-2600 v4 CPUs with up to 16 cores per socket, up to 1.5TB of DDR4 DRAM, and a 12Gbps SAS network scheme. The nodes have a Cisco Virtual Interface Card (VIC) 1227 and have vSphere ESXi 6.0 software pre-installed.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/08/cisco_flashifies_hyperflex/

Analyst: Nutanix Is Now a Prime Target for Cisco

#Cisco, however, as a partner of #SimpliVity, may face new pressure. "Thus far, Cisco has seen mixed success at best with its own #hyperconvergedsolution, #HyperFlex (built on #Springpath 's software), and its existing SimpliVity partnership will likely be terminated," wrote Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron in a research note. "Cisco is left with limited options to address its portfolio gaps and could turn to #Nutanix for a solution (partnership or M&A)."

http://www.investopedia.com/news/analyst-nutanix-now-prime-target-cisco/

Cisco boots Nutanix from partner program

Less than a week after #Nutanix issued a press release announcing their independently validated ability to run on #Cisco #UCS, #Nutanix has been booted from the Cisco Solution Partner Program. Cisco has its own hyperconverged solution utilizing UCS hardware, bundled together through an agreement with software company #Springpath, which they call #Hyperflex.

So it makes sense that they would see Nutanix as a competitor in this space and remove them from their partner program. But why would they still allow other competition in the partner program?

#SimpliVity, #Maxta, and #Pivot3 are also strong competitors, but remain in the Cisco Solution Partner Program (SPP). So what made Cisco turn the cold shoulder to Nutanix?

Perhaps there is some bitterness stemming from a couple of failed attempts at acquiring Nutanix. Back in the first half of 2015, Cisco unsuccessfully tried to acquire both the No. 1 and No. 2 startups in the hyper-convergence market: Nutanix and SimpliVity. 

#Dell 's upcoming merger with #EMC also introduces more competition with Nutanix, as #VCE is a leader in the converged infrastructure space. However Dell recently extended their OEM agreement with Nutanix and does a good amount of business through that partnership.

If Dell and EMC are able to play nice with Nutanix, my concern is that Cisco is painting themselves into a corner. 

The converged/hyperconverged market is rapidly gaining adoption and it will become increasingly harder to displace hyperconverged infrastructure once it has landed. The ease of rip and replacing servers and SANs every 3 to 5 years will quickly become a thing of the past. 

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3112325/data-center/cisco-boots-nutanix-from-partner-program.html

Springpath to focus on Cisco OEM development

#Springpath is becoming a #Cisco -only development shop, we hear. It’s going to concentrate on its Cisco OEM deal for the hyper-converged Data Platform product and we’re hearing it will defocus from other marketing and selling activities. The hyper-converged infrastructure area is a high-growth one. #EMC converged systems president Chad Sakac has said sales of its product in this area, #VxRail, are on fire with a $200 million annual run rate after one quarter of sales. It’s aiming for a $2 billion run rate by the end of next year, a fantastically aggressive growth rate. #Nutanix is growing fast, as is #SimpliVity. HDS has entered the market and #HPE has a strong offering. There are over 30 vendors in the hyper-converged market and with major players having strong product lines and broad channels then its landgrab time for every hyper-converged player, with a need to focus their resources and go balls out for growth. Cisco launched its HyperFlex product, a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance using Springpath software running on its UCS servers in March. We understand that sales have exceeded expectations and Cisco would like more Springpath-powered products to sell. It is encouraging Springpath to create additional product lines. We might imagine ones focused on Hadoop-style work cases, extended scale-out file storage, extended hypervisor support and also object storage. Nutanix, with its expanding product range and #Dell’s OEM ’ing of its SW, might be in Cisco’s sights here, as well as EMC’s VxRail and HPE. Such development by Springpath would require substantial development engineering resources, more coders for example, and it may be that Springpath’s board has decided to make cuts in other areas.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/15/springpath_cisco_oem/

Hyperconverger Springpath pivots to OEM channel. Yes, we said pivots. What of it?

#Hyperconverged software startup @Springpath is on a @Cisco express hurtling to assault the market and bring #UCS server-based #HyperFlex systems to prominence.

Springpath CEO @TerryCunningham joined in May 2015, coming from running EVault, the cloud backup service unit of @Seagate, which #Seagate folded back into its own organisation, leaving no role for its CEO. In the fall of 2015 he drove a change of strategy to primarily go OEM. It's also developing its product to provide application layer integration. We note it has technology partnerships with @Citrix, @Veeam and @Zerto.

Mallik Mahalingam, the co-founder and original CEO, is now CTO, and the pattern here seems to be one of bringing in an experienced CEO to grow the company while the founder steps back to a technical strategy-type role. The company was founded in 2012, when there was an $8 million A funding round, followed by a B-round of $25 million in 2014, and then a C-round in fall 2015, along with a CIsco investment, both of an undisclosed amount, and the Cisco OEM deal. We think total funding is between $35 and $60 million.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/27/springpath_pivots_to_oem_channel/

Cisco Partners Want Hyper-Converged Acquisition, Not OEM Agreement

Partners are pressing #Cisco Systems to make a #hyper-converged infrastructure acquisition instead of an OEM agreement as sources tell CRN the networking giant is preparing an OEM agreement with hyper-converged startup #Springpath.

"I would rather an acquisition than a partnership because partnerships can dissolve if somebody else buys them, and that wouldn't be good for Cisco," said a top executive from a Cisco Gold partner, who declined to be identified. "What happens when some other player decides to buy that company and then you're left with, 'What do I do now?' [For example,] Cisco has an OEM agreement with #F5, and if something happens with F5, they could probably pretty easily switch over to #Riverbed. That would be more difficult in the hyper-converged space."

http://m.crn.com/news/networking/300079272/cisco-partners-want-hyper-converged-acquisition-not-oem-agreement.htm

Cisco Inks OEM Deal With Startup Springpath, Preps UCS Hyper-Converged Appliance

#Cisco Systems is preparing a new hyper-converged appliance that combines its #UCS servers with technology gained from an OEM agreement with hyper-converged software startup #Springpath, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told CRN on Monday.

The sources said Cisco has also made an undisclosed investment in Springpath, which was founded in 2012 by former #VMware storage engineers as #Storvisor and emerged from stealth mode under its new name last February.

http://m.crn.com/news/data-center/300079256/sources-cisco-inks-oem-deal-with-startup-springpath-preps-ucs-hyper-converged-appliance.htm

Cisco Partners: Acquiring Hyper-Converged Startup Springpath Would Make Ton Of Sense

#Springpath, a hyper-converged infrastructure startup founded by former #VMware engineers, recently pulled out of two industry events and parted ways with its PR agency, raising questions about its future direction, according to a report from The Register. 

The moves are rekindling long-running speculation in the #Cisco channel that the networking giant is planning to unveil an acquisition or strategic partnership with Springpath, which emerged from stealth in February with $34 million in funding. 

http://m.crn.com/news/data-center/300079048/cisco-partners-acquiring-hyper-converged-startup-springpath-would-make-ton-of-sense.htm

Something's bubbling up in the Springpath springs

#Springpath, the hyper-converged software startup, has cancelled two US briefing events with journalists and industry types. It's also canned its global PR agency, and calls to its contact phone number are not answered.

The two events are the IT Press Tour this week, and Tech Field Day in February. It was listed as a sponsor for the November IT Press Tour as recently as November 16 but is no longer a sponsor for the event.

Springpath presented at Tech Field Day 7 in March. Our understanding is that it was not at the Virtualisation Field Day 6 event in November, cancelling its scheduled appearance. Here's its history:

2012 – founded as #Storvisor by CTO Mallik Mahalingam and Krishna Yadappanavar, with an $8m A-round.
2014 – $25m B-round, we think, taking total funding to $34m.
2015 – In February, it comes out if stealth as Springpath. In May, Terry Cunningham becomes CEO.
Cunningham replaced Mahalingam who was both CEO and CTO, and reverted to being the CTO. The announcement of Cunningham's appointment is no longer available on Springpath's website, although he is listed on the company's leadership page.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/04/springpath/