It's more likely the company would sell blades that aren't really servers but computing platforms that do specific jobs relevant to networking. This would be partly a defensive move. If Cisco doesn't bring those functions, such as collaboration and unified communications, into its own platforms, computing companies will have an opportunity to bring those in through their own server sales, he said.

Historically, the golden opportunities have been the ones where a vendor could break into uncharted territory, such as when IBM pioneered LANs with SNA (System Network Architecture) in the early 1970s, Nolle said. Big Blue then dominated that field into the 1980s.

"You can't find one where someone's jumped in where there was an incumbency," Nolle said.