NetApp, Cisco and VMware join forces

Vendors announce virtualised datacentre three-way collaboration effort

Maritz said the technology the foundation for cloud-based deployments

NetApp, Cisco and VMware have teamed up to create a virtualised data centre architecture featuring “best of breed” technology from all three firms.

The venture marks the first time that Cisco, VMware and NetApp have pooled resources – a collaboration that has resulted in the creation of the Secure Multi-Tenancy Design Architecture.

The architecture, explained the vendors, has been designed to improve efficiency and security within the virtualised data centre environment for customers wanting to deploy cloud solutions.

Paul Maritz, president and chief executive at VMware, explained: “The dynamic data centre 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.”

Only mutual partners of all three firms will be authorised to sell the architecture, explained John Rollason, head of product, alliances and solutions marketing EMEA at NetApp.

He said: “Customers can purchase the hardware and software for the Secure Multi-tenancy Architecture from a broad partner ecosystem, which consists of the three companies’ mutual system integrators and channel partners.”

Logicalis UK, a partner of all three vendors, has welcomed the collaboration's “mutual partners only” stance.

Tom Kelly, managing director at Logicalis UK, said: “I make no apologies for the access we will have [to the architecture] over our competitors because we have invested significant amounts of money in these partnerships.”