Cisco Data Center Program Offers Virtualization

Cisco Systems unveiled its Data Center 3.0 program March 16. The program includes virtualization, a highly sought-after sustainable IT function.

Cisco’s “unified computing” model is to create data centers with complex storage and processing setups that can be separated from the hardware and be rearranged remotely. The idea is that the elements remain seamlessly networked no matter how they’re reorganized, Forbes reports.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Cisco’s move essentially puts it into a competitive position with longtime partner Hewlett-Packard.

Cisco’s partners on this project include Intel, Accenture, VMWare, Microsoft, the labs unit of enterprise software firm SAP, storage maker EMC and more than 20 other companies.

Code-named “California,” Cisco’s new program links the networking, processing, storage and virtualization of a data center.

For the first time Cisco is offering a server. Cisco’s system integrates VMware virtualization software, which allows applications to run independently from the servers and storage hardware they run on.

Businesses are turning to virtualization software as the top way to reduce energy use and carbon footprint in the IT realm.

Microsoft claims its virtualization software saves companies an average $470,000 annually.

In that new model for the data center, a chief information officer could more easily move an application from one server to another for maintenance purposes, for instance, and the network would automatically reconnect the application to the data it needs to access.

But the California system won’t be sold piecemeal, according to the source briefed on the release. That means that any customer interested in Cisco’s virtualization scheme will have to implement it with Cisco’s servers, rather than those offered by competitors like Dell (nasdaq: DELL – news – people ), Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ – news – people ) or IBM (nyse: IBM – news – people ).