Cisco has introduced new technology to increase the efficiency and security of cloud-based networks so that information can be delivered instantly, with industry-leading security, to more people, on more devices, in more locations. Cisco’s cloud computing vision unites a world of many clouds— private, public, hybrid and community— providing connectivity to every mobile device, personal computer, tablet and TV. Based on borderless networks, these interconnected clouds represent the next phase in the evolution of the Internet.
New additions to the Cisco product portfolio support three key cloud computing requirements: data center virtualization, network performance and security, and span the entire cloud infrastructure, from the end-user and branch office, through the network to the data center. These additions include Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) and Nexus switches for the data center and cloud, the Cisco Wide Area Application Service (WAAS) for application performance optimization, and Cisco IronPort Email Security.
Cisco Unified Computing System Innovations: Leading in the Era of Cloud Computing
Cisco continued to lead the industry in data center innovation by expanding the networking capabilities of the Cisco Unified Computing System with new Fabric Interconnects, a new Virtual Interface Card, and a new chassis I/O module. Together, these additions significantly extend the agility, scalability and performance of UCS-based data centers and cloud environments, allowing businesses to:
- Improve application performance and handle workload bursts by doubling bandwidth to the chassis, quadrupling bandwidth to the server, and reducing end-to-end latency by 40 percent
- Improve workload density by doubling the switching capacity of the data center fabric
- Improve infrastructure agility and support converged fabrics with flexible, unified ports. Any Fabric Interconnect Unified Port can be designated as Ethernet, Fibre Channel, or Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
- Improve virtual machine workload density by doubling the number of virtual interfaces
UCS Manager, which manages all system configuration and operations for both UCS blade servers and rack-mount servers, provides a robust and open Application Programming Interface (API) for integration with other management software. Cisco is now introducing VMware vCenter for the Cisco Unified Computing System and UCS Express on Cisco Integrated Services Routers (ISRs), a unified virtualization management platform which enables IT organizations to organize, rapidly provision and configure the entire virtualized IT environment across branch offices and the data center. This will help customers reduce operating costs, improve operational automation, and deliver higher levels of security.
The Cisco Unified Computing System unites compute, network, storage access, and virtualization resources in a single energy efficient system. In less than two years, more than 5,400 customers spanning all industries and workloads have deployed the Cisco Unified Computing System, making it one of the world’s favorite foundations for building private and public clouds.
Optimizing Application Performance for Cloud and Video
Cisco introduced new innovations to its WAAS product line which improve the performance of traditional and emerging applications such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), virtual desktops, and high-quality video across wide-area networks. [advt]
With the introduction of the industry’s first context-aware data redundancy elimination (DRE), Cisco WAAS manages bandwidth more efficiently and enables applications to perform better at remote or branch offices, because information doesn’t always need to be delivered from data center. The new context-aware DRE improves application response times and throughput by changing the DRE caching behavior on a per-application and per-branch office basis. This context-aware capability provides “performance fairness” across all branches and improves the end-user experience.
In addition, the new WAAS Central Manager, which can manage up to 2,000 WAAS instances from a single interface, and integrated Application Performance Manager (APM) provide network administrators with enhanced visibility into application performance and network utilization, improved operational efficiency, and rapid root-cause analysis of performance issues.
Email Security for the Cloud
Cisco introduced innovativeemail security features to counter the increasing number of low-volume targeted email attacks and to provide highly secure email encryption for better end user experiences. The new Cisco Cloud Security solutions for web and email reduce risk of malware, phishing attacks and spam through consistent protection policies.
The Cisco IronPort Outbreak Filters protect against personalized email attacks that target individuals or small groups. Using integrated IronPort and ScanSafe security technology, the Outbreak Filters solution identifies messages likely to be targeted attacks, and protects users by blocking access to malicious websites. The Cisco IronPort Business-class email security provides enhanced security for email accessed by any tablet, PC or smartphone:
- Enables business users to use existing corporate credentials (userID and password) to access most of their cloud applications with a single user sign-on
- Enables true disabling of recalled email messages so that recipients can no longer read them
- Allows end users “secure forward capability” to control who an email can be forwarded to
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