NetApp and Cisco wil team up to provide customers with unified, dynamic data center solutions that are based on Cisco’s Unified Computing System and NetApp Unified Storage Architecture.
The companies are working together to certify the combined solution, and the companies will also collaborate on customer support and marketing activities.
The Cisco Unified Computing System unites compute, network, storage access, and virtualization resources in a cohesive new data center architecture. This allows customers to reduce the complexities often associated with data center virtualization, lower costs, and improve asset utilization.
Through Cisco Validated Design, NetApp will provide flexible and powerful storage solutions for the Cisco Unified Computing System that will be tested for interoperability in virtualized data center environments. Customers benefit from the unified storage model across the entire NetApp product portfolio, application integration technologies such as the NetApp SnapManager product suite, and advanced storage efficiency features.
Cisco and NetApp will also collaborate on joint marketing efforts, such as the multi-city “Virtualized Dynamic Data Center Roadshow” with VMware and other select solution integration partners. NetApp will also participate in Cisco’s Data Center of the Future program. Both of these programs will focus on educating customers about NetApp and Cisco data center offerings.
In March, Cisco announced that NetApp is a participant in Cisco’s open ecosystem of partners for the Unified Computing System, which is focused on stimulating innovation, enhancing service delivery, and accelerating the market adoption of Unified Computing. In addition, Cisco and NetApp have a long history of collaboration and many common customers that have deployed Cisco and NetApp technologies and solutions in their data centers. NetApp supports and resells the Cisco Nexus 5000 and MDS data center switching products, and in 2008, Cisco and NetApp announced support for the industry’s first native FCoE storage array.