Block Solutions flags up Cisco UCS trend

Latest win shows end users are increasingly using Cisco's new server platform to virtualise their UC applications, VAR claims

VAR Block Solutions claims more Cisco UCS deployments are taking on a unified communications (UC) flavour after bagging its third such deal in as many months.

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation is the latest end user to turn to Block to help it virtualise Cisco’s UC suite of applications on the vendor’s new server platform.

It is Block’s sixth UCS win since it became accredited to sell UCS last March, a year after Cisco first unveiled the architecture.

Block technical director Marc Chang said Cisco’s ongoing investment in the platform should not go unnoticed.

“This deal is another great UCS win for us, but more important is that Cisco continues to develop solutions that allow the value-add applications such as UC and VDI to run virtually on the UCS platform,” he said.

Block managing director Jonathan Pickering (pictured) added: “We have been speaking to Barnsley about helping them move towards a UCS blade strategy and the UC solution will drive further benefit from the investment they are making.”

Jonathan Hayes, head of ICT support at Barnsley, said: “We needed to select a solution to support our server and storage virtualisation initiatives and Block was able to articulate how the Cisco UCS solution could provide us with a more scalable infrastructure, increase performance and help us reduce capital and revenue spend over time.”