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Awesome end-user experience is what Desktop Virtualization is all about!

Hello Everyone! Back again to talk to you about our latest Cisco Validated Design for the Desktop Virtualization (DV) space from Citrix Synergy 2013 in Anaheim, CA.  This one is particularly interesting because of the variety of Cisco, Citrix and EMC technologies deployed.

As you know, over the past several years DV has grown at a stunning rate. Our studies in the past have focused on 100% hosted virtual desktop solutions.  In the real world that our Customers live in, there is a mix of hosted shared desktops (Citrix XenApp) and hosted virtual desktops (Citrix XenDesktop.)

So, we set out to show that the combined power of Cisco UCS, Citrix Desktop Virtualization products, and an EMC VNX7500 multi-protocol storage system with Fast Cache could provide screaming fast performance under a large scale, real-world mixed workload. After all, awesome end user experience is what we have to deliver!

We recognize that a fair percentage of the hosted virtual desktops deployed today are persistent desktops, each with a dedicated virtual disk and each assigned to a specific user. While this type of deployment provides the end user with maximum flexibility and control, it is a very, very expensive proposition.

Citrix introduced Personal vDisk with XenDesktop 5.6 so that Customers can reduce desktop virtualization costs by using a shared base desktop image for all users in a particular group and giving only those users who need the ability to install non-standard applications space to do so. This technique saves significant CapEx (shared storage space) and ongoing OpEx (administration and backup) costs. For that reason, we included Citrix Personal vDisk in the solution.

We have laid out a prescriptive guide on how to deploy a large scale, mixed use case DV solution that includes:

  • 1000 Seats of Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 FP1 Pooled Hosted Virtual Desktops with PVS write cache on local SSD drives
  • 1000 Seats of Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 FP1 Hosted Virtual Desktops with Personal vDisk
  • 2000 Seats of Citrix XenApp 6.5 Hosted Shared Desktops

The solution was built and tested at the Citrix Santa Clara, CA Solutions Lab in partnership with Cisco and EMC.

We demonstrated outstanding end user experience with all three workloads running simultaneously at scale.

And because in the real world we don’t ask users to stand in line at the beginning of the day or after lunch to log in and start their applications, we required as a success criteria that all 4000 users be logged in and using their applications within 30 minutes.

Here’s a look at our Login VSI performance chart, from zero to 4000 mixed workload users in 30 minutes:

Whitney4KSeatLoginVSIChart

You can rely on Cisco Validated Designs to provide you with detailed guidance on how to build an identical DV delivery system in your company!

As always, the keys to a successful deployment of a large scale HVD environment start with:

  • Detailed characterization of the virtual workloads
  • Desktop Broker that supports efficient streaming capabilities
  • Reliable, fast User Profile management
  • Compute platform that provides linear scalability, rapid expandability, and excellent management tools across hundreds to thousands of servers
  • Network infrastructure that provides the right amount of bandwidth to the right traffic
  • Storage system that is capable of efficiently handling massive IOPS, both on the read side for boot up and the write side for DV ramp up and steady state
  • A robust hypervisor capable of supporting advanced capabilities required for HVDs
  • Fault tolerance at all levels of the solution, producing a highly available system

Cisco UCS together with Citrix technologies, EMC VNX storage, and VMware vSphere provide the key foundation for a high performance, highly available HVD environment:

  • Login VSI 3.7 Medium workload was used to represent a typical knowledge worker for all workloads
  • Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 FP1 with Citrix Provisioning Server 6.1 provided the ultimate desktop streaming technology with the smallest storage footprint
  • Citrix User Profile Manager was used to manage 4000 unique desktop user profiles
  • Cisco UCS B200 M3 blade servers provided awesome compute resources and Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects (FIs) managed server hardware, network and storage for the environment.
  • Cisco enterprise 300GB SSDs were used for Citrix PVS 6.1 write-cache drives on the hosts for the 1000 pooled hosted virtual desktop cluster, providing significant write IOPS reduction to the shared storage
  • Cisco UCS Service Profile Templates and Service Profiles made server deployment fast, efficient and insured that each blade was provisioned exactly the same as the next.
  • Cisco UCS Manager 2.1, with tight integration with VMware ESXi, handled management of all of the blades across the 5 VMware clusters used in our solution seamlessly
  • Cisco Nexus 5548UP Access Switches and Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switches in conjunction with our FIs provided end to end Quality of Service for all traffic types from the virtual desktop through the hypervisor, the FIs and through the Nexus 5548UPs – all at 10 GE or 8 Gb FC!
  • Cisco VM-FEX (Virtual Machine Fabric Extender) was utilized in the XenApp 6.5 cluster, providing virtual machine hypervisor bypass for the vNIC. We were able to support 8% more XenApp virtual desktop sessions per host by deploying VM-FEX
  • EMC VNX7500 with Fast Cache, provided the outstanding read and write IO to support 4000 virtual desktops during boot up, ramp up, steady state and log off
  • Our design provides N+1 server fault tolerance at the VMware cluster level. Another real-world differentiator for Cisco!

Here is a look at the hardware used in the solution:

WhitneyPh2_4K_MixedWorkloadRackView

Heading over to catch some of the great sessions at Synergy 2013. Look forward to hearing from you about your real-world desktop virtualization workloads!

For more information download the Cisco Validated Design at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/citrix_emc_ucs_XDXAscale.pdf

And for more information on Cisco Desktop Virtualization Solutions, go to:

http://cisco.com/go/dcdesignzone

Solution Brief:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/ns955/ns1099/solution_overview_c22-728248.pdf

 

 

 



Authors

Mike Brennan

Sr. Product Manager

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Graphics

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Cisco Consumer Experience Report for Automotive Surprises Many: Consumers Desire More Automated Automobiles, According to the Cisco Study

I was fortunate enough to lead the Cisco team that looked at consumer experiences in the automotive industry, and the results were eye-opening. For those of you that didn’t know, the study surveyed more than 1,500 consumers across 10 countries. The global report examined consumer preferences of technology used when buying and driving an automobile. Consumers also identified preference for car dealers/manufacturers to provide a more personal driving experience, and their trust in future automotive innovation.

CCER SummarySome pretty interesting results emerged. Prior to purchasing a vehicle, consumers prefer to begin their process online. That’s not too surprising to most of us, since you’re reading this blog online right now, so you yourself are fairly comfortable with online research, I assume! But many had issues trusting the information on the manufacturers’ web sites.

  • Most consumers begin their car purchasing process online: 83% of global consumers prefer to research online for information on a car, versus only 17% of consumers that prefer to call or go to dealership.

We were also educated on what mattered most to consumers. Consumers desire a more automated way to track car gas and maintenance costs:

  • Impact of gas prices on customer experience: 52% of consumers want to track gas prices from a vehicle.  Gas-price tracking was the highest priority, compared to 46% of consumers wanting to track insurance prices, 35% wanting to track roadside assistance availability, and 32% wanted to track recall information.

That was a little different to how folks wearing a manufacturing hat actually thought. Most manufacturing executives (57%) thought that auto manufacturer information is most important for consumers to track!

Consumers are also more willing to trade personal information for customization, security and savings:

  • More Personal Security and Customized Cars: 60% would provide biometric information such as fingerprints and DNA samples in return for personalized security or car security. 65% would share personal information such as height/weight, driving habits, entertainment preferences if this allowed a more customized vehicle and driving experience.

“The survey shows consumers’ comfort with technology and need for immediate information whether they are researching, buying, driving or servicing their vehicle. While consumers in diverse parts of the world may expect very different experiences, their technology demand is more positive than many manufacturers imagine. Many consumers are just waiting for manufacturers to respond with better car buying, driving and service experiences augmented by technology.”

Peter Granger, Senior Industry Marketing Manager, Cisco Products Solutions Industry Marketing

CCER Driverless Continue reading ““We Want More Automated Cars” Cisco Consumer Experience Report shows”



Authors

Peter Granger

Senior Sales Transformation Manager

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Earlier this month Shane Snow, Tech journalist and co-founder of @Contently, opened up a can of worms with his article “Hug vs. Handshake”. When he, a “married dude”, runs into a male acquaintance both in and outside the workplace, a handshake is an acceptable and preferable greeting for both men. But “with females, I feel like I’m trapped between two walls of a deep-space garbage compactor. On the first meeting, we shake hands. Easy. But the next time we cross paths? Is a handshake now too formal (especially if we got along well in the first meeting)? Will a hug be awkward?”

Jessica Roy, a reporter for Betabeat and the New York Observer, offers a different angle on this conundrum:

The problem with shaking hands, of course, is that you might fracture our brittle bones with your manly monster shake. But the problem with hugging is that you might accidentally touch our delicate lady areas. What’s a dude to do?

And Tim Sackett, a journalist at Ragan.com, summarises the whole debate in his (literally) bold words:

Women will hug anything.

What are we talking about here? Our desks? Coffee machines? A lion at the nearest zoo?!

Continue reading “Apparently, women will hug anything”



Authors

Laura Earle

No Longer at Cisco

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This may seem to some a rhetorical question, right? It’s in the name! A guide that describes the design and implementation of a system or solution. That seems simple enough. Cisco Design and Implementation Guides (DIGs) can be found in the Cisco Design Zone. Many of these designs are Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs) that include internal or external testing, some are reference designs, and some are visionary architectures or best practices documented by experienced engineers.

As a Network Architect, I came to Cisco to develop CVDs and accelerate business solutions beyond just the “marketecture” vision. I wanted to prove how products and systems can be used to create end-to-end solutions that work better together, more than just the sum of their parts, solving real-world business problems.

Continue reading “Design & Implementation Guide: What’s In a Name?”



Authors

Bart McGlothin

Solution Architect

Compliance Solutions Group

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Best of TechEd logo
Nexus 1000V is a finalist for Best of TechEd

Cisco is making a big splash with our virtual networking portfolio at Microsoft TechEd North America 2013, running June 3-6 in New Orleans, Microsoft’s premier event for IT professionals and developers. There will be over 7,000 attendees and there is still time to make plans to get there yourself if you want to learn more about Cisco’s role in the Microsoft ecosystem. For details, visit our show microsite.

The event is well-timed with the GA release of our Nexus 1000V virtual switch for the Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor reaching customers next week. Not coincidently, the Nexus 1000V has been selected as a finalist in the 2013 Best of TechEd awards in the Virtualization category and is eligible for the overall Attendees Pick award for the show. (If you do go as an attendee, make sure to vote early and often, as they say!)

It’s great to see the enthusiasm and interest in our whole virtual networking portfolio as we ramp up to tap this market in a big way now. I’ve been writing the last couple of months about how much interest there was in the beta version and how well it was received, and how we’ve removed the main barrier to adoption by making the Essential version of the Nexus 1000V virtual switch available at no cost.

Continue reading “Cisco Ramps Up Microsoft Momentum at TechEd North America, June 3-6”



Authors

Gary Kinghorn

Sr Solution Marketing Manager

Network Virtualization and SDN

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For those of us in large enterprises, it’s easy to feel lost in the sea of employees. With the rise of mobility, virtualization, and BYOD, many of us in the tech industry work from home, other offices, or even other countries. Because of this, many of us miss the chance to build good relationships with other team members. People with good work relationships are more productive, and tend to stay around longer.

Recently, my team had a major re-org, and helping new team members feel at home has been on the forefront of my mind. Here are some tips I am following to build a happier, healthier, and even more efficient team:  Continue reading “How to Build a Happier and More Efficient Team”



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By Marc Latouche, Vertical Manager, IBSG Service Provider

The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update projects a 13-fold increase in global mobile data traffic between 2012 and 2017 — two thirds of it video. To move all that data traffic with speed and quality, mobile network connection speeds will increase sevenfold by 2017. Clearly, mobile data services are becoming increasingly important. The question is, who will capture the revenue associated with all this activity? While mobile service providers (SPs) invest in building and maintaining the infrastructure to carry this burgeoning mobile traffic, over-the-top (OTT) content providers are benefiting from that new capacity, enabled and financed by mobile SPs.

Where are the revenue growth opportunities for service providers in this fast-changing mobile data landscape? Are there opportunities for mobile network operators to partner with OTTs, or to provide services that can extract greater value from the network? Continue reading “Mobile Data Traffic Is Exploding—but Who Is Profiting? How Mobile Service Providers Can Monetize Mobile Data”



Authors

Chris Osika

Senior Director, Global Lead

Service Provider Practice Internet Business Solutions Group

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The growth of connected devices is impacting enterprises worldwide. The key to unlocking value, however, is shifting from the number of connected devices to the value of the connections themselves. We define a connection as the intersection of People, Process, Data, and Things—coming together to form the Internet of Everything (IoE). The IoE opportunity represents 21 percent of corporate profits, or $14.4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, worldwide. Capturing the potential value of IoE depends on an inclusive business environment that facilitates innovation and productivity. Fostering a work-your-way environment by empowering employees to bring their own devices is a critical part of the solution.

There’s no doubt that “bring your own device” (BYOD) is a fast growing global phenomenon, drivien by employee demands to use the devices, applications, and cloud services they prefer. BYOD promises tantalizing benefits such as better work-life balance, greater innovation, and improved productivity. Yet some fear that security risks and the complexity of managing so many different personal devices might outweigh the benefits.

New research and analysis released today from the Cisco® Internet Business Solutions Group puts those concerns to rest—showing that not only do companies experience significant value by embracing BYOD today, there is potential for much added benefit.

It’s all about implementation. Read more at the Platform blog: http://blogs.cisco.com/news/new-analysis-comprehensive-byod-implementation-increases-productivity-decreases-costs/



Authors

Joseph M. Bradley

Global Vice President

Digital & IoT Advanced Services

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The growth of connected devices is impacting enterprises worldwide. The key to unlocking value, however, is shifting from the number of connected devices to the value of the connections themselves.  We define a connection as the intersection of People, Process, Data, and Things—coming together to form the Internet of Everything (IoE). The IoE opportunity represents 21 percent of corporate profits, or $14.4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, worldwide. Capturing the potential value of IoE depends on an inclusive business environment that facilitates innovation and productivity. Fostering a work-your-way environment by empowering employees to bring their own devices is a critical part of the solution.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwNI9B7Jwxo

Continue reading “New Analysis: Comprehensive BYOD Implementation Increases Productivity, Decreases Costs”



Authors

Joseph M. Bradley

Global Vice President

Digital & IoT Advanced Services