Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) moves it up a notch by buying vCider

Cisco Systems, Inc.(NASDAQ:CSCO), the networking bigwig, in a recent blog post, announced its latest acquisition, vCider. The company had a fall-out with VMware after this move, since Cisco wanted to buck up its game after VMware acquired Nicira in July. Along with Nicira, the company had also bought the software defined networking technology which Nicira is well-known for.

VXLAN is the technology endorsed by VMware, through which the company can get virtual machines to span dispersed data centers while being a part of the same local are network. This is almost the same way in which vCider’s technology operates. Cisco, however, can benefit with vCider by its side. Through the latter’s help, the company can build a Cisco-Cloud network which will be unified, and yet, paradoxically, distributed.  vCider used a multi-tenant distributed virtual network controller, which Cisco can not integrate into its OpenStack Quantum network subsystem.

vCider’s expertise lies in being able to install software on to a virtual machine instance into a cloud, and then making a grid Layer 2 network which the administrator can control. Through this procedure, it is able to assist companies in spanning clouds, while keeping security a priority. Such technologies will make it much simpler for Cisco to develop its Cloud infrastructure and add it to quantum. To this effect, the company has also been planning to integrate vCider into the company’s Cloud Computing Group which is answerable to CTO Leo Tucker. Quantum aims at increasing programmability of both virtual and physical networks which itself is tied to Cisco’s Open Networking Environment, or ONE.

Cisco joined the OpenStack cloud open-source computing effort about two years ago. Cloud computing has taken on mammoth proportions in terms of popularity in both personal and professional sectors. Most of the software and networking companies are trying to get as much out of cloud computing as is possible. it does not come as a surprise that Cisco is going all out to derive the best of cloud networking.

Leo Tucker is the VC of the OpenStack Foundation Board. VMware, the company Cisco is competing with, is a former GigaOM Structure LaunchPad Finalist.