Chambers acknowledged earlier this month when announcing Q2 financial results that switch sales have been hurt of late due to the company being and that the $40 billion company is feeling "pricing pressures." Industry watchers have expressed concern about whether Cisco is spreading itself too thin in its effort to diversify.

Questions also have been raised about whether Cisco really "gets" its new markets, , and the company's share price slumped earlier this month after analysts out of concern about increased competition and lower margins for Cisco. 

Cisco competitors from HP to Juniper show no signs of letting up either, with Juniper expected later this week to make a big . 

Meanwhile, Cisco's marketers on Tuesday cranked out related to its newer products, including that the company has sold to about 4,000 customers.

in Network World's Data Center section.