#OPTIONS OF RUNNING A VCE FILE SOFTWARE#
Vblock Systems are marketed for large-scale datacenters which run software applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint or SAP ERP.
Despite the "block" in the name, the storage can be accessed as either a block device or a file server. VCE marketed converged infrastructure servers known as vBlocks, which combine VMware vSphere software running on Cisco Unified Computing Systems (UCS) connected with Cisco Nexus switches, attached to EMC Symmetrix storage. The Converged Platform Division of EMC is currently known as the Converged Platform and Solutions Division of Dell EMC. On September 7, 2016, EMC was acquired by Dell. In January 2016, EMC announced that VCE had become the Converged Platform Division of EMC with Chad Sakac as President. In October 2014, EMC announced that it had acquired majority control of the VCE venture, with Cisco maintaining a 10% stake. Total VCE for 2013 has been reported at over $1B with over a 50% year-over-year growth rate. Other press highlighted VCE as a source of innovation and financial performance for investors. īy 2013, some of the same press writers that initially criticized VCE came to view the structure of VCE as being good business for investors. Cisco reported a gross investment of $457 million, for a stake of about 35%. EMC reported an investment of $667.2 million in cash and $13.2 million in stock-based compensation to VCE, for a stake of about 58%. However, in US Securities and Exchange Commission filings, EMC accounted for a cumulative loss of over $430 million by September 2012, and Cisco a loss of $457 million by early 2013, since revenues are recorded to the owning companies, not VCE itself. In May 2013, VCE estimated a $1 billion annual sales rate with more than 1,000 Vblock Systems sold. VCE was named one of the “2013 Virtualization 50” by CRN Magazine. Gartner had previously tracked server, networking, and external controller-based storage as individual markets. In a November 2012 report by Gartner, VCE had a 57.4% share of integrated infrastructure systems in the second quarter of 2012 based on revenue.
In August 2012, EMC announced a VSPEX reference architecture and partnership with Lenovo and other distributors that was seen as competing with a lower-cost option. Cisco had announced its own "framework" called CloudVerse in late 2011 that was not specific to VMware. Through 2012, there was a mixture of some success (with speculation of layoffs), and continued confusion due to products from competing partners such as NetApp FlexPod and Xsigo Systems. Others considered the arrangement to be a wise investment. The press debated if the venture should be considered a " startup company", with one headline joking "VCE = virtual cash erosion" and questioning millions of dollars of executive compensation. Publicized customers included Babson College and the Mississippi Community College Board.
It was estimated VCE had 1200 employees at the time, with undisclosed revenues but accumulated losses. In July 2012, Cisco executive Praveen Akkiraju was appointed CEO and Frank Hauck as president. In October 2011, another office opened in Marlboro, Massachusetts, close to VCE's EMC-owned manufacturing plant in Franklin, Massachusetts. Originally located in Silicon Valley and Dallas, Texas, an expansion was announced in March 2011 to Richardson, Texas with an investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Īcadia and the Virtual Computing Environment coalition combined into a single entity in January 2011, called VCE, the Virtual Computing Environment Company. īy the end of 2010, Capellas told analysts the venture had 65 customers, with an average system costing about $2.5 million. Sales initially encountered some confusion among customers (which often had different staffs for storage and networking, for example), and different fiscal quarter sales cycles. Michael Capellas, who also was a board member of Cisco, was named chairman of Acadia, and its first chief executive officer (CEO) in May 2010. The goal of Acadia, originally set up as a separate legal entity, was to build Vblock Infrastructure Packages in a standardized and repeatable fashion for customer data centers. Īt the same EMC World trade show, Cisco and EMC introduced a joint venture named Acadia. The partnership was originally called the VMware-Cisco-EMC alliance, though the name was later shortened to VCE, for the “Virtual Computing Environment coalition”.
Cisco Systems, EMC Corporation and VMware (partially owned by EMC) unveiled a joint partnership in November 2009 to develop cloud computing platforms called Vblock Infrastructure Packages.