Cisco's Nexus forms core of datacenter drive
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As servers and storage start to merge into unified, virtualized systems, Cisco wants to do the same thing with the networks that connect them.On Monday, the company is set to unveil a datacenter networking platform that eventually could take the place of both the Ethernet switches that link servers as well as the Fibre Channel devices that form storage networks. The Nexus series is designed both to meet exploding demands for bandwidth and energy efficiency within data centers and to simplify the jobs of IT administrators. In the process, it could help give Cisco the central role it seeks in IT infrastructure.Cisco is already a leading player in datacenter networks with its&#160;Catalyst series Ethernet switches&#160;and its MDS storage network platform. Now it hopes to transcend those separate systems using a single, unified switching fabric and the emerging Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) standard. The platform it will use, called Nexus, will be a line of routing switches in chassis, rack-mounted and blade form. The first of these, the Nexus 7000 chassis, will be generally available in the second quarter. Prices will start at $75,000, but a typical configuration will cost about $200,000, according to Jayshree Ullal, senior vice president of Cisco&#39;s Data Center, Switching and Security Technology Group.Mark Drake is looking at the Nexus platform for future-proofing as his company, Health Management Associates, centralizes its data resources. The company runs about 60 hospitals, mostly in the Southeastern U.S. Health Management&#39;s current Catalyst switches are probably enough to handle connectivity needs in its data centers for the next two years, but it&#39;s hard to predict storage and processing requirements beyond that as he looks for the next generation, Drake said.&quot;I&#39;m looking at a little over ten years&#39; capacity,&quot; Drake said. The Nexus line is built to go far beyond the scale of the Catalysts, delivering more than 15Tbps. &quot;The capacity to grow is huge,&quot; he said.Another benefit Drake sees in the Nexus, which he has been told about but hasn&#39;t tested, is ease of management. Health Management is already trying to reduce IT staff costs by consolidating data centers from each hospital to a two main locations. Because the new platform combines storage and data switching along with security in a single switch and management interface, it could further simplify running those datacenters, he said.Initially, Cisco sees the Nexus switches at the core of datacenters that still use separate networks for processing and storage. But as FCoE emerges in storage systems, the Nexus could become the single connectivity platform, Ullal said. Its switching fabric is designed to be lossless, unlike a standard Ethernet system, which tolerates dropped packets, said Tom Edsall, senior vice president and CTO of the data center group. The platform also has built-in security features, including wire-speed encryption and authentication capability for each port.At the heart of the platform is a new, virtualized operating system, NX OS. As with server virtualization, NX OS can turn a Nexus switch into multiple logical switches running totally different processes, Ullal said . For example, one logical switch could handle storage and be managed by storage specialists, while the other links servers and is run by a different staff. A third could be a test platform. All would use a single switching fabric and set of redundant power supplies, which provides benefits in performance, economies of scale, and resiliency, she said. This virtualized architecture eventually will trickle down to other Cisco product lines, according to Ullal.Cisco also has automated some aspects of management with the Nexus line, drawing on best practices it learned partly from its customers, Edsall said. The system is designed to monitor and heal itself in many cases.The network&#39;s role in datacenters is growing as computing and storage are combined and shared, according to industry analysts. It&#39;s now the &quot;orchestrator&quot; of the datacenter, Zeus Kerravala of Yankee Group said. Cisco is the only vendor with both the networking and the computing experience to fulfill that role, he believes. But though many managers of datacenters want to see total virtualization of the datacenter, which could boost efficiency, they aren&#39;t yet ready for it.&quot;We&#39;re just entering the very early stages of the virtual datacenter,&quot; Kerravala said. &quot;This is probably at least two years away.&quot;Cisco is best positioned to build the core of datacenters because the network touches everything in it, according to Ullal, Edsall, and other executives.&quot;For Cisco, it&#39;s very critical that this platform be a launching pad to go further up the IT stack,&quot; said IDC&#39;s Cindy Borovick. However, taking control of datacenters won&#39;t be a walk in the park, she cautioned.&quot;Cisco&#39;s in a very strong position, but there are other very large suppliers that recognize how important the datacenter is and are willing to invest the R&amp;D dollars,&quot; Borovick said, citing IBM and Sun Microsystems. To Cisco&#39;s peril, datacenter administrators are more than willing to buy the best of many vendors rather than standardize on one, because they control the &quot;crown jewels&quot; of the enterprise, she said.
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The goal is a &quot;single, coordinated solution&quot; that enables network administrators to control both Windows installations and Cisco network architecture, the two tech giants said.
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Cisco Systems will open a Tokyo-based research and development center focusing on Internet software and routing technologies in February 2005, the company said in a statement last Thursday.
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Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) are delivering on their previously stated commitment to provide customers and partners with clear guidance on how Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) and Microsoft(R) Network Access Protection (NAP) will interoperate.
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(InfoWorld) - On Wednesday, Cisco Systems announced an upgrade of its Catalyst switching portfolio to include 10-gigabit Ethernet uplink and extensive PoE capabilities. The full Class 3 15.4 watt power delivery capability through each port on the device is "an industry first," Cisco said. PoE is a way of powering certain network devices, such as IPÂ phones, through the switch connection rather than plugging them into a nearby main outlet. The PoE capability is backed by Ciscoâs Redundant Power Systems as a recommended network product option. The 10Gb Ethernet capability can be accessed by replacing the Twin Gigabit Ethernet uplink module with a 10Gb TwinGig Converter module to meet changed network service provision needs. A showcase installation of the new solutions would be at Duke University in the U.S., where it would serve a 27,000 node academic network, Cisco said. The new, higher-capacity Cisco 3750-E switches with 10Gb upgrade capability will be deployed to gradually replace or complement some 1,000 Catalyst 3750 series switches already running the university's student, faculty, and administrative networks. A similar upgrade to an academic network was being considered by University College in London and several other institutions in Europe, Cisco officials said. Duke University and other users would most likely use the 10Gb capabilities to deploy video-based applications and services, they said. Cisco has stressed its support for video and live-image applications. The company is aiming to deliver any video format to any device anywhere on any network built with its infrastructure solutions, said Marthin DeBeer, head of Cisco's Emerging Technologies Unit, at the company's Networkers conference in Cannes, France. In a dramatic example of Cisco's recent TelePresence service, De Beer told conference attendees that his assistant at his San Jose office greeted visitors from a large, high-definition flat video screen while physically present in Dallas -- where the employee had moved. Cisco also announced a showcase installation of its Catalyst 3560 and Catalyst 2960 Compact Switches (for deployment outside wiring closets) on a cruise liner being built in Germany for Aida Cruises. The cruise line, affiliated with Germanyâs Lufthansa AG airline, will install a complete telecommunications and multimedia system based on Cisco infrastructure in all passenger cabins and for crew use on the Aida Diva, a vessel to be delivered later this spring. The services on the Aida Diva would be managed centrally by Lufthansa, regardless of where the ship was cruising, using Cisco's remote network management solutions, said Joerg Liebe, director of voice integration products at Lufthansa Systems. The Aida Diva is the first of four vessels Aida Cruises has on order that will be built with state-of-the art multimedia networks installed by Cisco.
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The Nexus 7000 combines ethernet switching and storage capabilities into a single product.
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Linux Networx has developed a clustered storage appliance which is able to pool capacity from separate storage devices into a single high-capacity resource.
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Storage networking via iSCSI gets a data transfer boost from the addition of InfiniBand high-speed communication technlogy.
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com October 11, 2004, 3:34 PM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been enterprise directories as organizations spawn projects around identity infrastructure.
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com October 15, 2004, 8:48 AM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been enterprise directories as organizations spawn projects around identity infrastructure.
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Internet hardware giant Cisco Systems is said to be preparing to launch a new family of routers that can manage both voice and data applications.
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Cisco Systems(R) (NASDAQ:CSCO) today announced it has made enhancements to its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture to ease deployment of a wide range of business-focused and consumer-based services.
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Cisco Systems on Tuesday introduced the Cisco File Engine Series, a line of appliance-based solutions utilizing WAFS (wide area file services) technology designed for branch office consolidation. Â
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TOKYO -- Cisco Systems will open a Tokyo-based research and development center focusing on Internet software and routing technologies in February 2005, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
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com October 13, 2004, 5:06 PM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been enterprise directories as organizations spawn projects around identity infrastructure.
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com October 18, 2004, 9:58 AM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been enterprise directories as organizations spawn projects around identity infrastructure.
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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - Cisco SystemsÂ took dead aim at data centers Tuesday at its annual Worldwide Analyst Conference, with company executives claiming many communications functions in servers would be better off moved into the network.