Cisco Blog > Data Center and Cloud
by John Rollason, Senior Manager Product, Solutions & Alliances EMEA, NetApp
For many years the server market was dominated by the likes of IBM, HP/Compaq, Fujitsu, Dell, Sun and characterised by small market share shifts. True the market changed as rack and blade servers became popular, but most of the players recognized the shift and adapted. Then Server Virtualisation technologies changed the market and Cisco disrupted it completely with the launch of the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) in 2009. Today Cisco’s vision for server virtualization has been proven successful with more than 10,000 UCS customers and 54 UCS world record results. Customers obviously see the advantage!
Cisco’s innovation, vision and leadership are an ideal match with NetApp, a recognized leader and innovative in the storage industry. Over more than a decade of collaboration our companies have achieved a number of milestones including first native FCoE SAN storage solutions and first certified end-to-end FCoE solution for VMware environments.
Just over a year ago NetApp and Cisco introduced FlexPod, a pre-designed, pre-tested and validated Data Centre cloud solution built on modular and unified architecture composed of Cisco UCS servers, Cisco Nexus switches, and NetApp unified storage systems running Data ONTAP. FlexPod components are integrated and standardized to help you eliminate the guesswork and achieve timely, repeatable, consistent deployments. FlexPod has also been optimized with a variety of mixed application workloads and design configurations in various environments such as virtual desktop infrastructure and secure multi-tenancy environments.
Today more than 500 customers across 33 countries are seeing the benefits of Cisco UCS + NetApp. In fact, I”ve blogged about European FlexPod customers including Accenture, Börse Stuttgart, Computacenter, Terremark, Guiness Partnership, Loughborough University, and many more.
This week at Cisco Live London 2012 you’ll have the opportunity to hear directly from several organizations transforming their infrastructures and businesses on FlexPod and talk with variety of partners activity selling and developing solutions built on FlexPod. NetApp is a Platinum sponsor of Cisco Live and I’ll be at NetApp Stand P1 with the rest of the team for the 4th year. Highlights include:
Read More »
Tags: Cisco, cisco live, Cloud Computing, data center, FlexPod, netapp, UCS
October 28, 2011 at 1:19 pm PST
No, we’re not stalking you--well, maybe a little--but in an effort to share what our partners are doing, we scoured the Web to find your blogs, the videos you’re posting, your new initiatives, charities you support, awards, and your contests. This is part of a regular series we’ll be posting recapping what you’re doing. (Be sure to let us know if we missed anything.)
So here’s a list of some interesting Cisco partner happenings from the past couple of weeks.
Cloud Solutions Video Demonstrate Value to Customers
We all know customers are asking for cloud solutions. Logicalis has posted a video about its cloud solutions using Cisco technology that walks through its offering, which is scalable and leverages virtualization to provide elasticity and scalability.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrvRFEspvgg
Collaboration Solutions for Growing Companies Read More »
Tags: blackbox, blue water, business communications, Cisco, crn, emulex, global knowledge, logicalis, netapp, red hat, var guy
So VMworld Las Vegas is now in the rear-view mirror, and VMworld Copenhagen looms in the distance. Were you there? Did you get a chance to check out our VXI demo? If your calendar was packed, but missed the VXI breakout session on Monday, I’d encourage you to check out the online replay of #SPO3989 (Cisco VXI: Optimized Infrastructure for Scaling View Desktops) once it’s available. We also had some important announcements speaking to our joint innovation with VMware, captured here. Read More »
Tags: FlexPod, netapp, UCS, vdi, VMware, vmworld, vxi
Once again, it’s the perfect storm of IT pros, all-you-can-eat-buffets, and outstanding content on end-user computing, and it all starts next week!
But before I get to the part where I try to hijack your calendar with all the great Cisco VXI content available to you at VMworld 2011, I want to share some perspective from my visit to Metro Health in Grand Rapids Michigan last week. Read More »
Tags: atlantis, collaboration, EMC, netapp, security, teradici, UCS, VCE, vdi, VMware, vmworld, vxi
A FlexPod has the power to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and it’s more powerful than a locomotive. No wait, that’s Superman. But FlexPods are going strong in the marketplace—and they are currently sold by 120 partners and counting.
The mighty FlexPod is also the subject of a recent whitepaper by IDC titled “Accelerating Converged Infrastructure with the FlexPod Datacenter Solution and the Support Alliance.” Cisco Partner IronBrick spoke to IDC for the white paper about its experience selling FlexPod and provided some insights on what their customers are looking for.
IronBrick customers are seeing “rapid data growth, have concerns around operational and resource limitations, have physical datacenter issues regarding space, power, and cooling, and have the desire to deploy IT solutions that enable nimble response to today’s dynamic and fast-moving application demand,” according to the whitepaper.
So guess what satisfies all of their customer needs? Read More »
Tags: FlexPod, IDC, IronBrick, netapp, partners, VMware, whitepaper
