LONDON. UK.-Jan. 26, 2010 -
As enterprises move toward a data centre that is 100 percent
virtualised, Cisco, NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) and VMware (NYSE: VMW)
today announced that they are expanding their long-standing
collaboration to deliver new design architectures that help
customers evolve virtualised data centres to be more efficient,
dynamic and secure. The three companies introduced an end-to-end
Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture that provides enhanced
security in cloud environments by isolating the information
technology resources and applications of different clients,
business units or departments that share a common IT
infrastructure. As part of their collaboration, Cisco, NetApp and
VMware will also offer a cooperative support model for these
pretested and validated design architectures to help customers
quickly build a unified, virtualised infrastructure.
"It's clear that a tremendous opportunity
exists for Cisco, NetApp and VMware to enable real change in the
data centre," said Tom Georgens, president and CEO of NetApp. "Our
visions are aligned around the concept of a dynamic data centre
that will be the foundation of cloud
computing and that will enable enterprises, integrators and
service providers to deliver IT
as a service [ITaaS]. In this scenario, IT becomes a dynamic
asset that is more efficient and can better adapt to changing
business needs. This new era of IT has stringent infrastructure
requirements that our companies are ready to meet
today-together."
"Virtualisation of the network, server and
storage infrastructure is radically reshaping today's data centre,"
said Paul Maritz, president and CEO, VMware. "The dynamic data
centre built on VMware® vSphere™, along with Cisco and
NetApp® technologies, will provide the foundation for both
private and public clouds and the ability to move data and
applications between these clouds. A shared virtual infrastructure
requires that resources for different tenants are isolated while
delivering on promised service levels. We have integrated our
technology with Cisco and NetApp not only to accelerate our
customers' journey through their data centre transition, but also
to deliver an outstanding customer experience."
"A unified architecture approach is more
important than ever before," says Tony Bates, senior vice president
and general manager, Enterprise, Commercial and Small Business at
Cisco. "Our joint vision with NetApp and VMware centres on
delivering a unified architecture for customers to design and build
a complete, virtualised data centre that will streamline operations
and improve their business resilience."
New Secure Multi-tenancy Meets
Virtualisation and Enterprise Cloud Security
Requirements
Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture is an end-to-end,
validated design architecture that isolates IT resources for
enhanced security in shared virtual and enterprise cloud
environments. The design architecture helps enterprise customers,
systems integrators and service providers develop internal and
external cloud services that isolate clients, business units,
departments or security zones for enhanced security across the
computing, networking, storage and management layers of a unified
infrastructure. The Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture
provides details about implementing and configuring the
architecture, as well as best practices for building and managing
best-in-class solutions from Cisco, NetApp and VMware. This
validated design architecture significantly increases business
agility by helping IT administrators to establish the appropriate
quality of service for each resource layer and to deliver
consistent service performance levels for the applications in each
layer.
"Examworks requires a flexible and dynamic
infrastructure that allows us to rapidly integrate disparate
technologies, virtualise key applications, and then offer them as a
service to our broad family of companies via a secure, internal
cloud infrastructure," said Brian Denton, chief technology officer,
Examworks. "By integrating best-in-class technologies, the Cisco,
NetApp, and VMware platform has delivered unprecedented agility,
efficiency, and cost savings. A validated Secure Multi-tenancy
architecture from these three industry leaders will be a necessity
for companies looking to develop cloud services that isolate data
across a highly secure, shared virtualised infrastructure."
The Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture
is based on Cisco Nexus® Series Switches and the Cisco®
Unified Computing System, NetApp FAS storage with MultiStore®
and NetApp Data Motion™, and VMware vSphere and
vShield™ Zones. The design reference architecture has been
jointly tested and validated as a Cisco Validated Design so
customers can quickly assess their needs and deploy integrated
solutions from Cisco, NetApp and VMware that meet the stringent
requirements of their dynamic data centres. The Cisco Validated
Design Guide can be viewed at www.netapp.com/uk/cisco-vmware/.
"The IT industry is in the midst of a radical
transformation as companies look for flexible, unified computing
architectures that can deliver dynamic, on-demand services cost
effectively," said Russ Fellows, senior partner, Evaluator Group.
"The driving force behind this shift is the need to align IT costs
with business by shifting from static single-purpose IT systems to
new on-demand IT services available in the data centres of the
future. These pretested and validated architectures will help IT
organisations achieve their goals faster, while minimising the risk
of moving to a new virtualised data centre."
Cooperative Professional Services and
Support to Enable ITaaS
As customers embark on their journey to ITaaS, Cisco, NetApp and
VMware will provide a cooperative set of professional services to
deliver an outstanding customer experience and help channel
partners deploy a Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture with the
least risk to their customers' current environment.
As part of this collaboration, Cisco, NetApp
and VMware also introduced a global 24-hour cooperative support
model. This model offers customers a more streamlined response from
Cisco, NetApp and VMware to identify and solve potential issues
related to the solutions used in the Secure Multi-tenancy Design
Architecture. This saves customers time and resources when they
request product and technology support.
Availability
The unified storage,
unified computing, networking and virtualisation solutions that
make up the Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture are available
today from Cisco, NetApp and VMware and in production data centres
around the world. Cooperative professional services and support are
also available today. To learn more about how Cisco, NetApp and
VMware and their mutual ecosystem of partners, including channel
partners, systems integrators and service providers, are working
together to help customers build and design their dynamic data
centres, visit www.netapp.com/uk/cisco-vmware/.
Virtual Event
Cisco, NetApp and VMware will host a virtual event to discuss how
the companies are working together to help customers transform
their virtualised data centres with the Secure Multi-tenancy Design
Architecture. Hear an executive discussion with Tony Bates, Cisco;
Tom Georgens, NetApp; Paul Maritz, VMware; and a special guest.
Customers will also be able to participate in a live Q&A
session with technical experts from all three companies. To
register, visit
http://www.imaginevirtuallyanything.com/?cc=uk&REF_SOURCE=netappsite.
About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that
transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this
year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational
excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about
Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news,
please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.
About NetApp
NetApp creates innovative storage and data management solutions
that accelerate business breakthroughs and achieve outstanding cost
efficiency. Discover our passion for helping companies around the
world go further, faster at www.netapp.com.
About VMware
VMware delivers solutions for business infrastructure
virtualisation that enable IT organisations to energize businesses
of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualisation
platform-VMware vSphere™-customers rely on VMware to reduce
capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business
continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2008 revenues of
$1.9 billion, more than 150,000 customers and 22,000 partners,
VMware is the leader in virtualisation, which consistently ranks as
a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon
Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at
www.vmware.com.
Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Nexus and
Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco
Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and
certain other countries. The use of the word partner does not imply
a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.
NetApp, the NetApp logo, Go further, faster, MultiStore, and NetApp
Data Motion are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc.
in the United States and/or other countries. The use of the word
"partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership
relationship between NetApp and any other company. VMware, VMware
vShield, and VMware vSphere are registered trademarks and/or
trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other
jurisdictions. The word "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a
legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other
company. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as
such.
UK Press Contacts:
NetApp
Jessica Power
0207 268 3438
07531 058 326
netapp@championcomms.com
Addendum: Partner Quote
Sheet
Cisco, NetApp, and VMware are also working with many channel
partners, systems integrators, and service providers that deliver
best-in-class services that will use the Secure Multi-tenancy
Design Architecture and cooperative support model to deliver
customers a completely integrated solution and quickly help them
transform their data centres into a shared virtualised
infrastructure.
Cognizant
"Enterprises are actively evaluating cloud
computing to optimise costs and increase business agility," said TP
Vincent, vice president, Technology Industry Practice, Cognizant.
"While existing public clouds can offer new business models, we
expect enterprises to move towards other cloud models such as
private clouds and hybrid clouds, for example. This calls for
industry-proven solutions that offer virtualisation of
infrastructure at all levels-servers, network and storage. The
Secure Multi-tenancy solution from NetApp, Cisco and VMware
addresses this requirement. The guidance on this integrated
framework enables us to provide world-class cloud solutions and
helps our clients to maximise business efficiencies through the
cloud."
ECCOM Network Storage System
Ltd.
"Cisco, NetApp and VMware are the top
networking, storage and virtualisation vendors in the IT industry,"
said Yue Liu, GM of ECCOM Network Storage System Ltd. "Their
customers have achieved great success based on their advanced
products and technology. Their joint collaboration will have an
even greater impact to their customers and the industry as a whole
with one complete solution for data centre and cloud
infrastructures. As the professional service and solution provider
for information infrastructure, Cisco, NetApp and VMware will
enable ECCOM to provide an outstanding experience to our mutual
customers in building their next generation of data centres."
ePlus Technology
"Virtualised data centres empower
organisations to reduce costs, increase efficiency and better react
to today's dynamic business climate," said Chris Finney, vice
president, Data Centre & Systems, ePlus Technology. "Cloud
computing is the next step in the data centre and requires
best-in-class technology partners to continue to drive this
transformation. ePlus is pleased to work with Cisco, NetApp and
VMware to create leading cloud solutions backed by our own data
centre solutions capabilities."
Forsythe
"Cloud computing and the move from a physical
to a virtual infrastructure continue to be among the most
significant IT transformations we see today," comments Richard
Zimmermann, Forsythe vice president of Network Solutions. "As an IT
infrastructure integrator, Forsythe has been helping its customers
integrate disparate technologies in complex physical, and now also
virtual, environments for a long time. Our focus is on helping
clients optimise the cost of operating their data centres.
Accordingly, we are excited to see collaborations such as Cisco,
NetApp and VMware that strive to simplify customers' implementation
and operation of converged virtual environments."
INX
"INX believes that cloud computing is the
next wave of IT infrastructure," said Jon Groves, vice president of
Professional Services, INX. "Enterprises are looking to cloud
computing to help reduce costs, increase business agility and
deliver an efficient environment through a virtualised, shared
infrastructure. We are very pleased to be working with world-class
technology partners such as Cisco, NetApp and VMware to provide
customers with best-of-breed cloud solutions backed by an
experienced IT services leader."
Long View Systems
"Enterprises are being called on to cut
costs, scrutinise new investments and become highly efficient in
everything they do-and nowhere more so than in the data centre,"
said Kent MacDonald, vice president, Infrastructure Solutions, Long
View Systems. "Long View Systems is excited to see the
collaboration of our strategic partners Cisco, NetApp and VMware
uniting three IT visionaries that have changed the way that
organisations manage their IT infrastructure. This is not a vision,
but a proven ability to execute together to drive down costs and
improve availability and responsiveness to business
challenges."
MSI Systems Integrators
"Cloud computing is the next step for
organisations looking to decrease costs, increase productivity and
provide agile IT services for their business," said Tony Regier,
executive vice president, Storage Solutions, MSI Systems
Integrators. "Sound solutions include technologies from
industry-leading IT manufacturers and systems integrators such as
MSI whose focus is on providing efficient and optimised IT
infrastructures. The relationship between Cisco, NetApp and VMware
allows MSI to provide world-class, cloud-based solutions for our
clients."
Presidio, Inc.
"Virtualised cloud computing has proven its
ability to reduce capital expenditures in the data centre while
significantly improving reliability, scalability and management,"
said Kevin Watkins, vice president, Engineering, Presidio, Inc.
"When our customers extend the concepts of virtualisation to their
network and storage infrastructures, the service improvements and
capital savings are even greater. Presidio is very pleased to be
working with Cisco, NetApp and VMware as we provide virtualised
data centre solutions for our clients. Their advanced technologies,
combined with Presidio's architecture and engineering capabilities,
result in some of the most advanced, cost-effective data centre
solutions in the industry."
Trace|3
"Businesses look to Trace|3 to help reduce
costs, increase business agility and deliver more efficient IT
environments," said Sandy Salty, director of Business Development,
Trace|3. "Cisco, NetApp and VMware allow us to provide customers
with best-of-breed design architectures."
World Wide Technology
"Enterprises are looking to public and
private cloud infrastructures to increase business agility and
deliver a highly efficient computing environment," said Bob Olwig,
vice president, Corporate Business Development, World Wide
Technology. "World Wide Technology is very pleased to join forces
with our world-class technology partners Cisco, NetApp and VMware
to provide our government, commercial, and service-provider
customers with best-of-breed, virtualised cloud solutions."