Zeus Kerravala did a fine job concisely reporting and discussing yesterday's Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) in an earlier post. The purpose of this post is not to discuss the announcement from a technical or market perspective, but to point out that the announcement was more than a press release issued to interested parties.Cisco's Website was updated early yesterday to include a treasure trove of information and data about UCS and its many components, including a variety of videos, illustrative photos, and supporting text documentation. The material was accessible to the public, not password protected. Cisco knows that mass market interest in the announcement is at its peak at the moment of announcement, not days or weeks later. Cisco has no fear that its competitors can access and review the information, because it cannot be kept a secret for long.
Some may think Cisco's UCS will have a tough time in a new product market space for the company, but many thought the same when they decided to enter the market for enterprise communications. A decade after its acquisition of Selsius Systems, Cisco is the global market leader for enterprise communications systems (based on line shipments) and the company most analysts first discuss. Cisco's success in voice communications was due less to its product offer than successfully implemented marketing strategies and tactics. Cisco did not invent new marketing concepts, it merely carried them out in an organized and professional manner (something most of its competitors have failed to do).
