After several days at SAPPHIRE 2012 in Orlando, Florida , where I got to attend amongst many other activities an interesting dialog between EMC Doc d’Errico and Cisco VP Server Access and Virtualization BU Satinder Sethi (stay tuned video coming very soon) , I am back on the show floor this time in Las Vegas for EMC World.
In case you still don’t know (really?) , Cisco and EMC have a very close partnership on many fronts , as one of our very active blogger and speaker Jay Metz was highlighting yesterday in carrying proudly this nice Infographics.
Obviously one of the main topic on the booth was Cisco UCS , whether as a stand alone platform, or integrated in a stack like Vblock, the solution provided jointly by Cisco , EMC and VMware under the brand VCE (check VCE Tom Chatham blog on EANTC Cloud Mega Test )
Recently Cisco and EMC deepened this partnership
“Cisco and EMC have a long history of partnering together for the benefit of our mutual customers, from storage solutions to the original Vblock to VSPEX. For those of you who missed the announcement, VSPEX is a reference design program to help guide customers as they build out their next generation of infrastructure. With our own success with the Cisco Validated Design program, we know this is an effective tool for customers as they look for trusted resources to guide infrastructure investment decisions. “wrote Omar Sultan in his blog “VSPEX: our Continuing Exploits with EMC”
So we invited today on the booth EMC Director and blogger Brian Gracely , our friend, blogger and reseller from Varrow Jason Nash and Cisco Virtualization Architect Ron Valente to share with us the excitement of this first day .
In this short video, our 3 experts talk about “easy to use and manage “. Interesting enough, I was also attending yesterday a Webex session about Cisco.com users based on a very large panel of Cisco customers . According to this survey, one of the major interests for our customers to visit high tech website such as Cisco, is to find information about how the systems are ”easy to use, configure, and manage”.
If you are in Las Vegas today, I’d like to make some suggestions for this second day at EMC World
Tom Chatham is a Principal vArchitect with VCE Corporate Engineering responsible for delivering VCE solutions, customer solution testing, technical marketing events and evangelizing private cloud. 16 years of experience in the industry, most of that time spent focused on storage, virtualization and unified computing. Including extensive network infrastructure, systems architecture and business continuity.
Tom is at EMC World in Las Vegas these days and on Twitter @tchatham -- Check booths 410 or 515 .
I asked Tom to share his experience and point of view on the EANTC Cloud Mega Test - here is what he sent me
“Over the past four to five months, there has been significant buzz about VCE’s role in the EANTC Cloud Mega Test. I was lucky enough to be a part of the test team, and I wanted to share some of my experiences in working on this fantastic project with EANTC and Cisco.
It started with a bang, of course. Back in late January, Light Reading published their first report on the testing EANTC had done of Cisco’s CloudVerse architecture. I was at Cisco Live London where details of the test were first shared and members of the CloudVerse team were in attendance to share the results. Over the next couple of months, EANTC followed that up with other reports in the series. All in all, they covered the Cisco Unified Data Center that is the foundation for cloud services, Cloud Intelligent Networks, Cloud Applications & Services, and Long-haul Optical Transport used in delivering cloud-based services. Of course, I wasn’t involved in all of that.
As with all of the Mega Test programs (the Mobile Mega Test and Medianet Mega Test being the ones that Light Reading conducted previously), these programs are a big deal. Cisco spends millions of dollars -- literally -- on lab infrastructure, engineers and communications for each one of these tests. Light Reading has EANTC come in to provide independent, objective oversight and testing. And when the report comes out, there is a lot of buzz in the industry on exactly what went on. It’s not every day we get to play in a multi-million dollar sandbox! I was one of several dozen people from Cisco, VMware, VCE, EMC and Ixia working on this project.
As the buzz about the test bounced around in the industry, a sidebar conversation emerged about VCE’s involvement in the test. As you may know from social media, I’m a Principal vArchitect with VCE Corporate Engineering. Essentially, my job is to make sure that customers get the most out of VCE’s technology – VblockTM Systems. The Vblock system is pre-engineered, pre-tested converged infrastructure that combines Cisco’s computing and networking equipment, EMC’s storage equipment, and virtualization from VMware. VCE itself operates as a joint venture between Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel.
One of the things that was missed in the excitement over the test results themselves was the fact that the Vblock system played a big part in the Cloud Mega Test.
Spring has come again for the storage industry, bringing with it new options in both storage and server hardware itself and the networks that connect them together. The rise of SSD (solid state disk), rising connectivity speeds for Ethernet and Fibre Channel, and a new awareness of the importance of storage from a virtualization standpoint mean that storage is experiencing growth and change. For years, the stand-by for storage networking was Fibre Channel. Today, Fibre Channel (FC) is still the stand-by for storage networking, but there are more options. Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), iSCSI, and the traditional file protocols of SMB and NFS are all viable enterprise-grade options to think about.
Its important to understand that despite sudden array of choices in the storage networking market, it is not necessary to simply pick a proverbial winner and run with it. Every business has its own business needs and I.T. design goals for the data center and the storage environment contained therein. Most large data centers today are primarily Fibre Channel environments, with a heavy investment in FC and FC-based storage arrays. The principles of consolidation and network simplification would state that these large data centers should be converting over to FCoE, based on the management, cable, and capital reductions. But the reality is far from that easy.
With a large investment in FC, companies simply cannot rip and replace the storage network and replace it with FCoE. Setting aside the huge disruption that would cause to operations, the waste of the existing investment in recently purchased FC equipment simply isn’t bearable. Then there are technical challenges, older equipment such as main frames that require FICON connectivity, and the testing process that has to happen when a new technology is introduced into a data center environment.
The solution, whether it is moving from FC to FCoE, augmenting FC with new equipment, or moving to iSCSI or a file protocol is carefully planned evolution. At Cisco we design our products with the idea of planned change at their heart. This is true of our storage networking products, the Cisco MDS and Cisco Nexus families. These products allow customers to choose the protocol and network they need to fulfill their needs, including their investment protection needs. In the case of our FC to FCoE example above, FCoE can be phased in with a combination of MDS and Nexus products while still allowing the FC network to run with the same level of reliability that customers expect.
Variety for storage networking is here to stay and application of one or more of these technologies can improve your data center by cutting down on costs and complexity. Keep them in mind as you plan for the future.
It’s time for EMC fans to gather from across the globe for this great event: EMC World in Las Vegas started today!
It’s also an opportunity to learn about Cisco’s cloud management solutions, designed to deliver end-to-end unified management and an intelligent approach to IT automation — complementing intelligent infrastructure such as UCS, Nexus, EMC storage, and the Vblock platform.
You may have heard that we recently introduced the new Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud Starter Edition. Here’s a brief overview and demo featured on TechWise TV:
So, apparently, a few of you are interested about what we will have to say at around OpenFlow and software defined networking (SDN). If you are lucky enough to heading off to CiscoLive! in San Diego, then there are a couple of things that you should definitely put on your to-do list.
We have three sessions you should check out:
From the Trenches: Delivering Real Software Defined Networking Solutions (PNLRST-4007): A panel discussion with Cisco folks, a couple of customer that have some real-world experience with SDN and OpenFlow and perhaps an analyst or two. The session will focus on what we see folks currently doing, lessons learned and what direction the panel sees the technology evolving
Software Defined Networks and OpenFlow (BRKRST-205): Fari warning--this session will make your brain bleed, but in a good way. Its a deep technical exploration into SDN and some of the design implications of deploying said technology.
And, as always, Padma’s keynote will offer insight into our thinking in this area
Beyond the sessions, there are a few other things to check out:
A number of SDN-related demos throughout the Cisco “campus” on the show floor
Theater and booth presos on a number of SDN-related topics--if you swing by the Cisco area, you can see the latest schedule
Table Topics, so you can get whiteboard time with our experts
Contact your AM or channel rep to schedule a briefing if you want to chat with someone about your specific projects
Elvis may have left the building, but Cisco is just arriving to Booth 402 at EMC World. There’s a lot to learn and see, here are some highlights from the Unified Data Center point of view.
Session Title: Transforming Data Center Storage Networks to the Cloud Speaker: Dr. J Michel Metz, Product Manager, Cisco and Josh Mello, Solutions Technical Marketing, EMC Date/Time: Monday, May 21, 2012, 4:00p.m. – 5:00p.m.
Hint: Scan the conference for Dr. J Metz
Session Title: High-Performance Scalable Solutions with Cisco Unified Data Center and EMC Speaker: Siva Sivakumar, Director, Technical Marketing, Cisco Date/Time: Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 10:00a.m. – 11:00a.m.
Birds of a Feather Session: Implementing Flash Technologies and Cisco UCS in Mission-Critical Application Environments Speaker: Rajiev Rajavasireddy, Product Manager, Cisco Date/Time: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 1:30p.m. – 2:30p.m.
Join the conversation online by following #EMCworld for show updates and @CiscoDC for live reporting from various sessions and the floor.
For those attending, be sure to download the Cisco Events App to keep track of everything. Join our Cisco EMC Scavenger Hunt and learn more about Cisco and EMC bringing solutions to market together. (Open the app and go to EMC 2012 --> Activites --> Additional Cisco Activities--> Cisco EMC Scavenger Hunt.)Download the Cisco Event App and Join the Cisco EMC Scavenger Hunt!
Download the Cisco Event App and Join the Cisco EMC Scavenger Hunt!
There will be Power of U! scan points throughout the conference, 10 in total. One hint, solutions are more than equipment, they’re about people too.
Hint: Scan the crowd for @CiscoDC as well!
We look forward to meeting you at Cisco Booth 402! What’s your favorite Cisco EMC Joint Solution? Post a comment and tell us which path to the cloud you’re taking.
The benefits of public cloud are so tempting that many organizations have been quick to adopt; only to find out of the downsides and risks the hard way—being confronted by them! The list of potential risks can get long and include alarming items like lackluster performance, costs considerably higher than expected, and the ever looming security violations.
So how does one move to adopt public cloud services, gaining the benefits while minimizing the risk? Caveat emptor, buyer beware, is a good start place. Cloud promises come fast and furiously. You need to make the time and devote the effort to understanding and documenting your needs and expectations. Then compare these to the array of promises and develop a guiding roadmap for public cloud adopting. Read More »
Gone are the days when an employee would be issued a single desktop computer to use for all work-related tasks. The bring your own device, or BYOD revolution is being driven by an increasingly mobile and geographically dispersed workforce that want to use their device of choice for personal and work related activities. Organizations today depend increasingly on offsite knowledge workers, independent contractors, consultants, distributed call centers, and globe-traveling executives to operate successfully. Not only do those workers demand remote access, they want that access from a growing array of devices—from laptops and ultrabooks, to tablets and smartphones.
NO ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL FOR BYOD
The good news is that IT today has options for addressing these challenges. There are two distinct options for implementing a BYOD strategy: to “go native” or to virtualize. Do you go for a native solution, in which applications and data reside on the actual devices? Or do you go for a virtualized solution, where applications and data reside in the data center with access being provided through a virtual desktop? Cisco’s BYOD and VXI Smart Solutions address these models respectively.
Although native deployments make good sense in many cases—such as in limited-access scenarios that support select applications like email, calendaring, the Intranet and certain mobile or SaaS applications—there are many scenarios where a full desktop and application experience is critical.
Adoption rates of desktop virtualization or VDI based BYOD deployments are on the rise thanks to the advantages that virtualization offers for more sophisticated use cases. The virtual deployment model centralize and simplify security and provide users with easier access to more applications, to more diverse end-points. However the virtual model also requires more infrastructure.
To learn more about the opportunities and challenges associated with using desktop virtualization to address BYOD initiatives and engage with experts from Cisco and Citrix on the subject -- register for the Live Webinar on May 22 @ 8am PDT Register Now!!
To learn more about Cisco VXI: www.cisco.com/go/vxi
Follow my adventures at Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans including a winning streak, decadent meals and life-long memories. Find out how technlogy innovation is impacting the gaming industry, using Tatts Group as an example of what is possible.
Yesterday I met Michael Missbach, Phd., who is the head of the SAP Competence Center based in Germany.
Michael who is the author and co-author of numerous books on the SAP environment .
He used to be a senior consultant at the SAP-HP International Competence Center in Walldorf, Germany, specializing in IT infrastructure solutions. He holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in material science from the University of Karlsrühe, Germany.
Dr. Michael Missbach in-depth knowledge of the SAP environment is providing a tremendous value to the Cisco team running SAP on Cisco Unified Computing Center, providing more insights of the SAP Customers care abouts , and better understanding of the SAP HANA technology .
Today he will talk at 12:00 pm EST in the “analytics” area at SAPPHIRE 2012
Abstract: This session offers real world experiences with HANA implementation and first hand results for HANA scale-out solutions on the Cisco Unified Computing System with Intelligent Intel® Xeon® Processors server platform and why this solution offers a competitive advantage to your business. Learn what customers are really asking for in regard to HANA and why it is important to provide the right solution to lower TCO.
I asked him to share with us what we can expect from this sessions
The second day at SAPPHIRE 2012 has been as intense as the first day -- After interviewing one of the first UCS customer (Monsanto) about the deployment of SAP applications , I did a round of videos with EMC, NetApp and Cisco executives to measure our presence in this market and our collaboration with key players. Stay tuned for the videos on integrated stacks (Vblock with EMC, Flexpod with NetApp) .
I met Cisco VP Marketing, Data Center and Cloud , Giuliano Di Vitantonio, who shared why Cisco is at Sapphire 2012 , and what specifically Cisco and SAP are working on together -- Legitimate questions from some of our visitors, as Cisco has a great image as a network provider, but is still building the recognition as a server and software powerhouse. Take the time to watch this short video to appreciate the breadth of the collaboration and understand why SAP is so interested in deepening this partnership.
Talking about experts . If you are in Orlando today don’t forget
-To attend at 12:00 pm the speaking session from Michael Missbach , our head of the SAP Competence Center
SAP HANA Appliance Software and High Availability: That Is the Question
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Location: Analytics
Abstract: This session offers real world experiences with HANA implementation and first hand results for HANA scale-out solutions on the Cisco Unified Computing System with Intelligent Intel® Xeon® Processors server platform and why this solution offers a competitive advantage to your business. Learn what customers are really asking for in regard to HANA and why it is important to provide the right solution to lower TCO.
As the role of cloud computing grows stronger, IT decision makers in 13 countries shared their plans and concerns in a study commissioned by Cisco and distributed by Insight Express. According to the 2012 Cisco Global Cloud Networking Survey released this week, cloud deployments are expected to increase significantly by the end of 2012.
A quick snapshot of @ciscodc at Sapphire -- As expected a lot of activities for this first day in Orlando.
On the front of the booth, we got a great audience as our speakers (see list of theater presentations) were covering numerous new capabilities developed by SAP and Cisco around intelligent automation, UCS , Flexpod or Vblock -- Well to be perfectly honest the Mini Cooper games were certainly very attractive as well -- Remember that you can participate to the contest through Twitter, even if you are not here in Orlando (see details here).
I spent part of my day videotaping partners and customers -- Great stories from SAP, Cisco and EMC customers such as Edison Mission Group, or from SAP, Cisco and NetApp (Flexpod) customers such as Chico State University -- “We reduce our footprint by 90% and have been able to move to a much better co-location facilities” ” Within 2 weeks, we were already up and running ” Expect to hear more from them in the following weeks as we will post these videos.
Today I want to highlight the presentation that Cisco Eric Robertson , will deliver at 12:00 pm [ Run Better 2 location] about Migration Path for Your Data Warehouse (see abstract) Eric spent a couple of minutes with me to reinforce in front of the camera the importance of this session, for SAP customers who are not on SAP BW7.3 , but want to take advantage right now of the SAP HANA environment . The Cisco solution is called Bridge Appliance and offers great potential -- Here is a 2mn summary from Eric
Going to Orlando and win a car! Sounds like going to Las Vegas!
IPad , Flip Videos and other little gadgets are cute, but this year Cisco, EMC and VCE are creating a buzz at SAPPHIRE 2012, with the opportunity to win a Mini Cooper (grand prize) or the value of a 1 day free rental of a Mini Cooper (twitter contests )
Twitter contests
-Bridge contest :
Ok !Time to show your writing skills ! In fact no need to be physically at SAPPHIRE 2012 ! This contest is open to the virtual audience as well! This contest starts on Monday 14th 2012 at 8:00 am EST and ends up on Wednesday 16th at noon EST
All you need is to create a “bridge” between two amazing products: Cisco Unified Computing System and Mini Cooper – In other terms , identify a common positive attribute between the Mini Cooper and the Cisco Unified Computing System and send a tweet based on this example “Cisco UCS is like a Mini Cooper …… #sapphirenow #Ciscobooth1185
Follow #ciscobooth1185 and Retweet to vote for the best attribute of Cisco UCS and Mini Cooper
Based on the votes, we will select the best tweet and announce on Wednesday afternoon the winner of a 1 day rental of a Mini Cooper (value $250)
-Picture contest
As Tweeps we are very creative and most of us like pictures (no kidding!) – For this contest you just have to stop on Cisco booth 1185 and borrow one of the Mini Mini Cooper (Mini Cooper toy) with a Cisco Logo for one hour , and take a picture on the show floor and tweet . We hope to see a lot of fun, artistic, if not crazy images. Don’t wait the last minute . There are only 25 toys on the booth !
This contest starts on Monday 14th 2012 at 10:30 am EST and ends up on Wednesday 16th at noon EST
Vote on Facebook or follow #ciscobooth11185 and retweet to vote for the best shot of the Mini Mini Cooper.
Based on the votes (crowd source) we will select the most popular picture and announce on Wednesday afternoon the winner of a 1 day rental of a Mini Cooper (value $250 )
Grand Prize
The raffle for the grand prize is basically open to everybody attending the conference [except Cisco, EMC and VCE employees ]provided you show up on the Cisco booths (#1185) ready to participate to an easy game, which includes attending Cisco theater presentations (see list here) and visiting Cisco and partners booth for demos. Details of the rules are provided on the booth. The game starts on Monday 14th at 10:00 am EST on the exhibit floor .
So if you are these days at Sapphire, don’t miss this opportunity to learn and play at the same time, with the thrill to drive one of these easy going German cars…and if you still don’t know what is a mini Cooper, guess what ..there is one on the booth ! (but you will not be allowed to drive it on the show floor ..)
Or just check this funny video created by EMC- Who said that aMini Cooper is not roomy!
Well, Interop Las Vegas 2012 has come and gone, and it was another exciting week for us. The folks at TechWiseTV caught up with Prashant Gandhi, our Senior Director of Product Marketing for network virtualization technology, to talk all about the latest innovation in the Nexus 1000V portfolio and where we are heading with what is increasingly becoming a very strategic platform for Cisco. Prashant really hits this interview out of the park, as he ties the whole architecture and recent innovations together very well.
