Microsoft Declares WAN War on Cisco

Microsoft's recent alliance with Citrix Systems to develop wide area network (WAN) optimization technology represents a declaration of war on Cisco in the "critical battleground" of the branch office, Gartner has reported. Gartner believes that Microsoft's tie-up with Citrix will change the selling dynamic for WAN optimization controllers, branch office boxes and, to a lesser degree, application delivery controllers. However, the analyst firm went on to predict that the Microsoft/Citrix partnership will face "some challenges" as the published product delivery date is "very aggressive."
Gartner said that this product is scheduled to ship in the second quarter of next year and will be based on Citrix's WANScaler product line gained through its recent acquisition of Orbital Data, and on Microsoft's Windows Server and Internet Security and Acceleration Server.
"Microsoft clearly considers Cisco a significant threat to its dominance in the enterprise software market, and views the branch office as a critical battleground for application and network architectures," stated a Gartner advisory.
"Microsoft is building a team of networking vendors to compete with Cisco. Citrix brings credibility in branch office application delivery through its Presentation Server and NetScaler products," the Gartner report stated.
"When combined with Microsoft's marketing might and strategic customer relationships, this product is likely to quickly appear on prospective customers' shortlists once it is released."
Gartner believes that Microsoft's tie-up with Citrix will change the selling dynamic for WAN optimization controllers, branch office boxes and, to a lesser degree, application delivery controllers.