New Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture Enhances Security When Sharing Data Center Resources Across Virtualized and Enterprise Cloud Environments

SILICON VALLEY, Calif.—Jan. 26, 2010—As enterprises move toward a data center that is 100 percent virtualized, 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 virtualized data centers 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 (IT) 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, virtualized infrastructure.

“It’s clear that a tremendous opportunity exists for Cisco, NetApp and VMware to enable real change in the data center,” said Tom Georgens, president and CEO of NetApp. “Our visions are aligned around the concept of a dynamic data center 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.”

“Virtualization of the network, server and storage infrastructure is radically reshaping today's data center,” said Paul Maritz, president and CEO, VMware. “The dynamic data center 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 center transition, but also to deliver an outstanding customer experience.”

“A unified architecture approach is more important than ever before,” said Tony Bates, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise, Commercial and Small Business at Cisco. “Our joint vision with NetApp and VMware centers on delivering a unified architecture for customers to design and build a complete, virtualized data center that will streamline operations and improve their business resilience.”

New Secure Multi-tenancy Meets Virtualization 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, virtualize 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, Cisco, NetApp, and VMware have delivered unprecedented agility, efficiency, and cost savings. A validated Secure Multi-tenancy design 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 virtualized 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 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 centers. The Cisco Validated Design Guide can be viewed at www.netapp.com/us/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 centers of the future. These pretested and validated architectures will help IT organizations achieve their goals faster, while minimizing the risk of moving to a new virtualized data center.”

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 virtualization solutions that make up the Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture are available today from Cisco, NetApp and VMware and in production data centers 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 centers, visit www.netapp.com/us/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 virtualized data centers with the Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture. Hear an executive discussion with Tony Bates, Cisco; Tom Georgens, NetApp; Paul Maritz, VMware; and a customer and partner. 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/f20100126.html?referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.netapp.com%2Fus%2F&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 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 $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.

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