Evolving to a Unified Data Center

Today's highly mobile workforce, proliferation of devices, data-driven business models, and super-fast network speeds are making limitless collaboration and on-demand information essential to a sustainable business model. To support these requirements, your IT team needs to think differently about how your data center is designed, operates, and delivers resources.

By taking a holistic, unified approach to design and operations, IT can build and operate a more agile, simplified, and powerful data center infrastructure, at a lower cost.

Cisco's Unified Data Center comprises the following components.

• Unified Fabric
  The network infrastructure and integrated network services provide high-speed connectivity, high-availability, security, and quality of experience for data center applications.
• Unified Computing
  The system-level computing infrastructure integrates computing, access networking, storage networking, and management of these components into a scalable framework for physical or virtualized applications.
• Unified Management
  This automation and lifecycle management framework simplifies deployment and operations within the data center.
• Integrated Solutions
  Cisco Unified Data Center supports the Cisco Hosted Collaboration solutions. Open standards and APIs allow for integration and management of hardware and software solutions from ecosystem partners, providing data center flexibility.
• Data Center Services
  In addition to a full range of data center product lifecycle services, Cisco and its authorized Channel Partners offer expert assistance with Data Center Optimization, IT Infrastructure Planning and Deployment, Strategic IT and Architecture Services, and Technical Support and Operations Management.

Cisco's Unique Value

Cisco's data center architecture offers more than just converged infrastructure. It provides:

• Innovative technologies for networking fabric, computing stack, service and cloud management, video, and hosted collaboration solutions
• Flexible architecture that will support legacy data center components, as well as delivery of IT-as-a-service and cloud services
• A broad range of storage, virtualization, application, and management alliance partners
• A system built from the ground up to deploy and manage data centers that comprise physical, virtual, and cloud resources
• A cost-effective data center infrastructure