It's apparent that Cisco Systems is out to compete with its former partner Hewlett-Packard. Cisco Systems, the networking hardware manufacturer, has indicated that it will start selling computers, too, and it will soon unveil its first blade server. The San Jose, California based Cisco Systems is expected to make big announcement and reveal details of its blade server, code-named as "Project California" today.

Cisco's entry into blade servers is clear signal that the company is no longer shy about competing with Hewlett-Packard. Sometime ago, Hewlett-Packard annoyed Cisco, announcing the enhancement of its ProCurve networking business.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the two former partners - Cisco and HP look daggers at each other. The WSJ has quoted Cisco Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior saying, "We're going to compete with H-P. I don't want to sugarcoat that. There is bound to be change in the landscape of who you compete with and who you partner with."

In a recent blog post, Warrior has written that "the blade servers are a key piece of the unified computing initiative, which aims to make it easier for companies to virtualize systems".

According to analysts, Code-named as Project California, Cisco's the blade server is developed to manage and automate the movement of virtual machines and applications across data center servers. It takes servers into new arena by stuffing "cramming computer power into the very box that contains storage capacity and the networking tools that are Cisco's specialty".

According to reports, today's announcement, to be made by Cisco CEO John Chambers, is the latest part of Cisco's virtualization strategy that it announced five years ago. The company is also expected to announce a switch and management console jointly developed with BMC Software Inc. and EMC Corp.