Maximize the Value of Server Virtualization Deployments

Explosive growth in compute capacity in many of today's data centers is stretching the limits of power, space, capital, and operational control for many IT organizations. Large numbers of powerful servers, configured for peak capacity but operating at a fraction of their potential, have generated an 'infrastructure sprawl' that is limiting IT's responsiveness, sapping budgets, and exposing businesses to greater risk.

Server consolidation solutions and services from Cisco can help you maximize the value of your server virtualization deployments. These solutions provide a virtualization-aware network infrastructure that provides the performance, flexibility, and reliability required to support large-scale server consolidation and server virtualization, and provides the following benefits:

• Delivers immediate efficiency gains by consolidating underutilized data center assets to save money, improve energy efficiency, and extend lifespan
• Sets the foundation for an IT architecture aligned to address both today's pressing challenges and emerging models such as cloud computing
• Improves IT's ability to respond to new business opportunities by accelerating the time and reducing the costs of deploying new capacity, flexibly reassigning workload
• Helps reduce risk by adopting best-practice methodologies proven in the largest and most demanding environments

Server consolidation solutions and services use Cisco Nexus switches and MDS SAN switches to deliver a secure, scalable, and reliable infrastructure. These switches deliver dense 10-Gigabit Ethernet and 8G Fibre Channel connectivity, respectively, to deliver the necessary bandwidth to meet increased workload demand of multiple VMs and multisocket/multicore servers, and also provides the reliability required for dense virtual machine deployments today, with the flexibility to adopt Unified Fabric in the future.

VN-link technologies, including the Nexus 1000v and NPIV, provides persistent per-VM policy control and visibility across LAN and SAN environments, and is a critical enabling technology for virtual machine mobility within, and between data centers as part of Cisco data center interconnect solutions, that provide the following benefits:

• Simplifies server configurations and reduces the number of interface cards, cables, and network connections required to host large numbers of virtual machines
• Increases visibility into the virtual environment
• Enables configuration and policy consistency between physical and virtual environments with provisioning and per-VM services

Data Center Services

• Consolidation Services
  Design a more efficient and agile data center that allows you to respond quickly to complex business challenges and opportunities.
• Virtualization Services
  Create and deploy virtualization solutions that help reduce costs, provision new applications quickly, and maintain a high level of performance, security, and availability.
• Cisco and VMware Virtualization Services
  Together, Cisco networking and VMware virtualization services provide an end-to-end approach to virtualization that frees data centers from physical and geographical limitations.

Key Products

• Cisco Unified Computing System
  Improve IT responsiveness to rapidly changing business demands by accelerating the delivery of new services simply, reliably, and securely.
• Cisco Nexus Switches
  A family of data center switches that is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center.
• Cisco Wide Area Application Services
  Reduce branch-office IT footprint by centralizing applications and storage to the data center while maintaining LAN-like application performance.
• Cisco MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Director
  This multilayer director switch addresses the stringent requirements of large data center storage environments.

Key Functionality

• Unified Fabric
  Simplify server connectivity, cabling, data center infrastructure, administration, and management.
• Virtual SAN and Inter-VSAN Routing
  Enables the consolidation of disparate SAN islands onto a single SAN fabric while maintaining segmentation, security, and compliance.

Case Studies

Cisco IT at Work Data Center Case Studies
Discover how Cisco IT's data center strategy adapts to current and future business needs.

Australian University Aims for Excellence with New Data Center Architecture (PDF - 1.1 MB)

Global Law Firm Selects Switch Solution and Storage Upgrade for Data Center (PDF - 169 KB)

Read all Case Studies

Flash Demos

Cisco Nexus 1000V: Intelligent Software Switch (Flash)

VN-Link Virtual Machine-Aware Network Services(Flash)

The VM-Optimized SAN(Flash)

Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch Technology Overview(Flash - 4:54 min)