Cisco continues its cloud computing performance leadership with the announcement of VMware® VMmark™ 2.5 benchmark result published on May 9^th 2013. The Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server’s score of 12.00@10 tiles on the VMware VMmark 2.5 benchmark represents the best cloud computing performance of any 2-socket server in a 2-node configuration as measured by the VMware VMmark 2.5 benchmark

The VMware VMmark 2.5 benchmark uses a tiled design that incorporates six real-world workloads to calculate a virtualization score. Then it includes VMware vMotion, Storage vMotion, and virtual machine provisioning times to calculate an infrastructure score. The combination of these scores is the total benchmark score. 

The system used to achieve this performance included the Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server powered by Intel® Xeon® processors and an industry-leading approach to storage: a Cisco UCS server-based Fusion‑io ION Data Accelerator solution that turns the server into a storage system. The Fusion-io ION Data Accelerator turns Cisco UCS servers equipped with Fusion-io ioMemory into highly available, transparently scalable, shared storage appliances.

For additional insights on the benchmark configuration check the “Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server Delivers World-Record Cloud Computing Performance” Performance Brief. You can also download the official VMware® VMmark™ V 2.5   benchmark disclosure and configuration details at http://www.vmware.com/a/assets/vmmark/pdf/2013-05-09-Cisco-C240M3.pdf

 

With this world-record-setting   VMmark 2.5 benchmark score of 12.00@10 tiles Cisco UCS has delivered the best cloud computing performance of any 2-socket server in a 2-node configuration as measured by the VMware VMmark 2.5 benchmark outperforming solutions from AMD, Dell, Fujitsu, and HP. Whether a virtualized data center or a public or private cloud is needed, this VMware VMmark 2.5 benchmark result indicates the degree to which the Cisco UCS can accelerate applications while delivering virtualization and infrastructure performance and agility for cloud computing environments

Better infrastructure yields better performance. With innovations such as unified fabric, large memory capacity, expansion capabilities, and the low-latency performance of Fusion-io ioMemory and ION Data Accelerator software, Cisco’s results demonstrate the architectural advantages of a system built for virtualized environments.

VMware VMmark is a product of VMware, Inc. The comparative results cited in this document were available at http://www.vmmark.com and were valid as of May 9th, 2013..

Girish Kulkarni

Senior Marketing Manager

Unified Computing System 

gikulkar@cisco.com

Tags: Benchmark Performance, Cisco UCS, cloud_computing, performance, virtualization, VMmark

“Applications?”  I hear you say.  ”Why are Cisco talking about application?  They’re a networking company!?”  If this is what you are thinking, I’m glad you are reading this blog.  As we’ve broadened to be an IT company, we in Cisco Services have been quietly building our application migration capability for the past 2 years.  And with cloud, as the leading designers of cloud IaaS infrastructure, we in Cisco Services are in a unique position to help you migrate applications to the cloud, where the skillsets required are not only application migration, but a deep understanding of how to enable your applications to genuinely exploit the capabilities of your cloud infrastructure.

Which takes me to the subject for this blog, Domain 8 in the Cisco Domain Ten^SM framework -- Applications, following on from my Domain 7: Platform discussion the other week.  In our view in Cisco Services, (business) applications are the primary reason for the existence of the data center.  Applications drive so many of the decision in the other facets of the data center.  And when it comes to cloud (which is my theme for this Cisco Domain Ten series), there are additional considerations related to migrating applications to the cloud.  Let’s discuss some of these in this blog.

Cisco Domain Ten: Domain 8: Applications

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Tags: Application migration, Cisco Domain Ten, Cisco Services, cloud_computing, data center, onboarding

Lockheed Martin has a vision for the cloud that delivers reliable and secure functionality, yet is developed to fit customer-specific business models. To do so seamlessly and as efficiently as possible, the IT provider turned to Cisco, Intel, NetApp, and VMware to integrate technologies to enable this vision.

Lockheed Martin’s solutions-as-a-service cloud approach is called SolaS™, and it is more than just a general service. Lockheed Martin takes the time to identify the objectives of the client’s mission and determine what the best innovation and solutions are that fit those objectives. With the FlexPod™ architecture, developed by the aforementioned technology partners, a solution can be rapidly deployed and then adjusted according to customer needs.

A four-step process to implementing SolaS ensures that each cloud model is developed according to differentiated customer purposes. You can read more about Lockheed Martin’s SolaS approach and how the service is delivered on the Unleashing IT website.

Coming up: Thought leaders from Cisco, Intel, NetApp, and Microsoft are coming together to explain how your business can gain a competitive advantage using FlexPod with Microsoft Private Cloud. They’ll share stories of others’ success by choosing the right technology and infrastructure to make the most of their private cloud environment. Join Cisco for this executive roundtable discussion on April 17, 2013.

Tags: cloud_computing, FlexPod

Domain 7 in our Cisco Domain Ten^SM framework for data center transformation is what we call “Platform”.  More specifically, this term refers to the “software platform” upon which your business applications will run.  In short, this area is where we examine operating systems, databases and other types of middleware and help you figure out your strategy, architectural decisions and implementation plans in these areas, to help you drive a more successful cloud or data center project.  Let’s discuss this area in more detail.

First, though, if you are new to the Cisco Domain Ten, please check out my “Cisco Domain Ten: The Story So Far” summary blog I published recently.  Additionally, earlier this week, we ran a public webinar, where some of my colleagues in the Cisco Data Center and Cloud Services team gave their perspectives on Cisco Domain Ten.  If you missed this and their very practical insights, please do catch up on the Cisco Domain Ten webinar recording.

Cisco Domain Ten: Domain 7: Platform

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Tags: applications, architecture, Cisco Domain Ten, Cisco Services, cloud, cloud_computing, data center

Service Financial Management is the focus of Domain 6 in Cisco Services‘ DomainTen^SM Model for Data Center and Cloud Transformation. Closely related to the User Portal (Domain 4) and Service Catalog and Management (Domain 5), service financial management is one of those organizationally challenging topics for the data center management team -- although with the advent of cloud services, is becoming more widely appreciated and in many cases (e.g. a service provider offering cloud services to businesses, a public sector organization offering services to other regional public service organizations), a mandatory part of your offer.  So let’s discuss this area and I’ll point you to a technical white paper from Cisco Services experts on this topic.

Cisco Domain Ten -- Domain 6 -- Service Financial Management

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Tags: architecture, chargeback, Cisco Domain Ten, Cisco Services, cloud, cloud_computing, data center, financials, UCS