Mar 16, 2009 : Cisco Announces Data Center Strategy

📅 March 16, 2009 - Network equipment provider Cisco (cisco.com) announced on Monday it has unveiled its new data center strategy, comprising of a new architecture, services and multiple partners to help customers develop data centers that benefit from virtualization.

Announced via a webcast presentation, the news of Cisco's data center strategy was first confirmed last week.

Cisco's Unified Computing System approach unites compute, network, storage access, and virtualization resources in "a single energy efficient system that can reduce IT infrastructure costs and complexity, help extend capital assets and improve business agility well into the future," according to the press release.

The company will aid customers in switching over to the Unified Computing architecture by offering a suite of new Unified Computing services, as well as its new Unified Computing System and architecture provider partners.

The Cisco Unified Computing System helps cut the total cost of ownership by 20 percent in capital expenses and up to 30 percent in operational expenses.

It also improves energy efficiency, significantly lowering power and cooling costs.

"The Virtual Machine has become the new atomic building block of the data center, creating new challenges and opportunities with the potential to transform the computing environment and deliver significant benefits," says Mario Mazzola, senior vice president of server access and virtualization business unit at Cisco. "Taking advantage of this architectural shift in the data center, we developed a unique new computing model that transforms the data center into a dynamic IT environment with the power to increase productivity, improve business agility and drive the benefits of virtualization to an entirely new level."

The company has also launched a new class of computing system which incorporates the new Cisco UCS B-Series blades based on Intel's Nehalem processors, working as a single system to wire the blades and consolidate networking functions.

Cisco has expanded its data center portfolio to offer new services in the areas of architecture design, planning, migration, operations, and remote management.

Prepare, Plan, Design and Implement Services help customers plan and execute their strategy through workshops; Operate Services lets customers resolve any issues and get the most out of their unified computing; and the Optimization Service helps customers maintain the optimal performance of their unified computing system.

Cisco has also established an open ecosystem of industry leaders to help develop technology, improve service delivery, and accelerate market adoption of Unified Computing.

The company has established and expanded on three levels of partnerships.

Its technology partners comprise of BMC Software, EMC, Emulex, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, Novell, Oracle, QLogic, Red Hat, and VMware.

Cisco's business consulting and systems integration partners include Accenture, CSC, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro. Finally, its channel partners are EMC, Microsoft, NetApp, Red Hat, and VMware.

The company says its holistic approach to transitioning from the existing data center infrastructure to Unified Computing System will not happen overnight, but it will undoubtedly be worthwhile in the long run.

Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers said that "the data center is evolving" and it "had no choice but to change."

The Cisco Unified Computing System and associated services will be offered to customers starting in the second quarter of 2009.

Chambers discusses Cisco's overall vision for the Unified Computing System in a video here, while Cisco executives talk about the finer details of Unified Computing System here.

Cisco rose 20 cents to $15.71 a share in afternoon trading Monday.