One of the topics that we frequently wrote about in 2010 was how the adoption of virtualization and cloud computing was one of the primary factors driving the acquisition strategy of many vendors.

Depending on where they stand in the overall environment, network and systems management companies hear different concerns from their enterprise IT clientele. Here’s a look at how the year will shake out in a number of different areas.

Infonetics research says cloud computing will fuel large gains in the 10G Ethernet and storage markets through 2014.

Juniper's strategic initiatives in 2011 and beyond are cloud computing and the mobile Internet.

Cisco's cloud strategy encompasses pretty much everything under the sun save one - actual cloud services.

The industry reached a "virtual" tipping point in 2009 when, according to IDC, the number of newly installed virtual machines surpassed the number of newly installed physical servers. This inflection point is having a profound impact on how we manage, secure and provision IT resources. No doubt the network will look completely different in just a few years too, but here are five predictions for how virtualization will change networking in 2011.

Deal will boost Cisco's business in building and deploying secure cloud computing infrastructures.

The firms will converge their data center connectivity products for linking servers, storage solutions, fabric switches, and related software.

As the economy recovers, the jobs are going to India and other cheap-labor nations

Cisco posts profit and sales gains, but misses its sales targets for Q1 by more than $500 million.