Long-standing Collaboration Highlights Continued Momentum With
Industry's First End-to-End Fibre Channel Over Ethernet Offering for
VMware-virtualized Environments
SILICON VALLEY, Calif. - July 28, 2010 - As part of their ongoing
collaboration, Cisco, NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP), and VMware (NYSE: VMW)
today announced the industry's first certified end-to-end Fibre Channel
over Ethernet (FCoE) solution for VMware-virtual environments. This
combined solution supports FCoE end-to-end to reduce the number of
devices and cables needed and to drive data center consolidation,
virtualization, and automation. Cisco data center switches (
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9441/Products_Sub_Category_Home.html
) and NetApp® storage FCoE solutions are now validated by VMware to
support VMware-based virtualized environments, marking a significant
milestone for the progression of the FCoE protocol to help more
customers achieve efficiency in their dynamic data centers and progress
on their journey to cloud computing.
Cisco, NetApp®, and VMware® are currently the only networking, storage,
and virtualization vendors to combine data center consolidation,
virtualization, and automation in a jointly certified end-to-end FCoE
solution that includes both FCoE initiators (such as Converged Network
Adaptors) and FCoE storage targets. VMware validated Cisco Nexus® 5000
Series Switches and NetApp FAS series unified storage support FCoE
protocol in virtual environments running VMware vSphereTM. The solution
has completed the VMware Hardware Certification Program testing criteria
for use with VMware software and is now listed on the VMware Hardware
Compatibility Guide, with support offered by all three companies.
Fibre Channel over Ethernet for Virtual Environments
- FCoE Savings: Representing the next progression of Fibre Channel
networking and storage, FCoE is a key protocol in delivering a unified
data center fabric and can provide significant savings by reducing the
number of adapters, cables, and network infrastructure devices needed in
a dynamic data center.
- FCoE Offers More Efficiency: FCoE also helps customers achieve
greater efficiencies by reducing space, cooling, and power, as well as
offers greater, higher performing utilization of the data center
networks.
- FCoE for Virtualized Environments: This validation of FCoE in virtual
environments further illustrates how lossless 10 Gigabit (Gb) Ethernet
has become the foundational building block for a unified data center
infrastructure. By supporting FCoE, network attached storage (NAS) and
iSCSI on a single unified network with lossless 10 Gb Ethernet, this
end-to-end solution for virtualized environments helps customers
consolidate their data center infrastructure for greater capital and
operational expense savings, achieve more efficient management, and
increase infrastructure agility and performance.
Cisco, NetApp, and VMware Collaboration
- Expanded Collaboration: In January, Cisco, NetApp, and VMware
announced the expansion of their long-standing collaboration to help
customers evolve virtualized data centers to be more efficient, dynamic,
and secure.
- Jointly Designed Architectures and Solutions: The companies continue
to innovate to deliver jointly tested, best-of-breed solutions to the
market, and have already released several design architectures and
end-to-end solutions for FCoE, long distance application mobility, and
secure multi-tenancy. Today, more than 70 channel partners, systems
integrators, and service providers and more than 30 organizations have
embraced the Secure Multi-tenancy design architecture to help build a
complete, virtualized data center that helps streamline their operations
and improve their business resilience.
- Open Partner Ecosystem for Design Architectures: As more enterprises
move toward a dynamic data center, the three companies continue to
collaborate with their solution provider partners, systems integrators,
and service providers to help customers along their journey toward a
virtualized dynamic data center and cloud computing.
Rob Christ, founder and director, Databasement: "Vital to our solution is a unique service-oriented infrastructure
based on the Cisco, NetApp, and VMware offering, that includes all
server, storage, and networking hardware and software to facilitate
sharing, reuse, and dynamic resource allocation. The announcement that
VMware has validated Cisco and NetApp end-to-end FCoE in virtual
environments will help us consolidate our data center infrastructure so
we can achieve greater efficiency, performance, and overall cost
savings."
Bob Olwig, vice president of Corporate Business Development, World Wide
Technology: "VMware's certification of Cisco networking with the NetApp Storage
FCoE solution is significant for our customers who are demanding an end
to the complexity and headaches associated with a myriad of cables,
multiple interface cards, and switches. World Wide Technology is
laser-focused in helping customers integrate disparate technologies in
complex physical and virtualized environments. We are very pleased to be
working with Cisco, NetApp, and VMware, which have delivered the
industry's first FCoE solution that squarely addresses data center
customer requirements."
Mark Hilz, president and chief operating officer, INX: "A validated end-to-end FCoE solution from virtualized server through
the network to the storage arrays will help our customers drive a level
of consolidation, virtualization, and automation that up until now was
not possible. The collaboration among Cisco, NetApp, and VMware
continues to yield technology advancements that accelerate business
agility and delivers on the promise of enabling a dynamic virtualized
data center."
Collaboration Website: To learn more about the long-standing
collaboration between Cisco, NetApp, and VMware, and its many joint
benefits or details on the various solution offerings, please visit
http://www.imaginevirtuallyanything.com/.
Available White Papers, Solution Briefs and Design Architectures:
NetApp, and VMware Alliance Brochure
ttp://media.netapp.com/documents/cisco-vmware-alliance-brochure.pdf
Cisco, NetApp, VMware Deliver Live Application Mobility Across Data
Centers
http://media.netapp.com/documents/ds-3042-iva-ldvm.pdf
Enhance Business Contunity Application Mobility Across Data Centers (
http://www.netapp.com/us/media/wp-application-mobility.html )
http://media.netapp.com/documents/wp-app-mobility.pdf
Designing Secure Multi-tenancy into Virtualized Data Centers
http://www.netapp.com/us/media/cisco-validated-design.html
Deploying Secure Multi-tenancy into Virtualized Data Centers
http://www.netapp.com/us/media/deploying-secure-multi-tenancy.html
Videos Blogs:
Data Center Blog on FCoE
http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/comments/the_journey_to_the_virtualized_data_center_dynamic_data_center_solution/
Cisco, NetApp, and VMware: Long Distance vMotionTM Proof of Concept
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s4gtPMXxTE
Cisco Live Barcelona: Cisco, NetApp, and VMware Discuss Collaboration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFLcbzP6VhU
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 ( http://www.netapp.com/ ).
About VMware
VMware delivers solutions for business infrastructure virtualization
that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With
the industry leading virtualization platform - VMware vSphere™ -
customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses,
improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go
green. With 2009 revenues of US$2 billion, more than 170,000 customers
and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization 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. VMware Canada is headquartered in Burlington,
Ontario, and can be found online at www.vmware.ca.
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. Cisco Canada Co., a wholly owned
subsidiary of Cisco, has offices across Canada dedicated to customer
support, sales and service. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com/canada/.
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