Incite 12: Battle of the Titans

The big will continue to get bigger in 2006, as frenetic consolidation continues as product line breadth outweighs actually functionality. By the end of 2006, it becomes apparent that the real battle is between Cisco and Microsoft to control the architecture of networks and applications moving forward. As with other huge “marketectures,” users are caught in the crossfire, but 2007 will see enough additional functionality for those embracing homogeneity to see a wave of infrastructure upgrades. Vendors not strongly aligned with one of the two titans face irrelevance by 2009.