The 10 Biggest Cisco Stories Of 2009

The freshly minted Cisco-HP rivalry isn't just a top Cisco story or one of the top networking stories. It's one of the year's most exciting stories in IT -- if you can call a clash of two of the industry's biggest, baddest titans "exciting."



Whether it was HP or Cisco who lit the fuse is a matter of opinion: There were plenty of warning shots fired early in the year. But partners were clear. The second North American Channel Chief Wendy Bahr (pictured) described Cisco's once-friendly co-existence with HP thus: "We are competing. Period. End. It is competition."





Every major networking or data center announcement since then from either Cisco or HP inevitably mentions the other, whether it's been Cisco firing up its Borderless Networks Architecture or HP bidding to acquire long-time Cisco rival 3Com in the networking space's blockbuster deal of the fall. Does a price war come next? Stay tuned.