Networking giant Cisco and business software player BMC have forged a strategic alliance to develop and sell new solutions for large scale multi-tenant cloud computing infrastructures.
Under the alliance, the two companies are aligning product development road maps and technology architectures to offer worldwide customers a complete suite of solutions that simplify and automate the delivery of cloud services.
As part of the alliance, Cisco and BMC announced the availability of a new cloud solution, the Integrated Cloud Delivery Platform, that is designed to meet the requirements of service providers and large-scale private cloud computing environments.
This new joint solution helps cloud providers easily deploy end-to-end cloud services running on a cloud computing infrastructure that spans data centre networks, computing systems, storage and applications.
Improving the provisioning of cloud services
The Integrated Cloud Delivery Platform helps large-scale cloud providers to eliminate many of the complex, manual steps required to set up and provision a cloud computing service, enabling greater end-to-end simplicity across the cloud network.
The joint solution from BMC Software and Cisco is built on new levels of integration of BMC’s Cloud LifeCycle Management (CLM), a comprehensive cloud computing software orchestration and management solution, with Cisco’s data centre networking, compute, and storage solutions.
The integrated system is designed to operate in large-scale private, public and hybrid cloud environments.
For service providers, the Integrated Cloud Delivery Platform combines Cisco’s Unified Service Delivery solution with BMC’s CLM capabilities to deliver breakthroughs in efficiency, time-to-market, service quality, reduced complexity and improved compliance.
“Cisco and BMC have a common vision for advancing cloud computing with unified infrastructure combined with seamless management,” Padmasree Warrior, CTO, senior vice-president and general manager, Enterprise, Commercial and Small Business for Cisco, explained.
“The Integrated Cloud Delivery Platform enables our customers to deploy end-to-end IT services running on a cloud infrastructure that spans networks, systems, storage and applications,” he said.
Business impact
Speaking with Siliconrepublic recently, Cisco Ireland country manager Kim Majerus emphasised the growing importance of cloud computing, especially for SMEs.
“One of the main advantages of cloud computing for SMEs is that it allows them to focus on their business instead of getting sidelined by IT,” Majerus explained.
“Small businesses have embraced cloud services for their ease of use, as well as the ability to access technology innovations that might have been out of reach due to the IT investment required.
“The cloud has enabled a lot of new technologies and capabilities that can be delivered to small businesses in a subscription-payment model that makes sense for them.
“Applications in the cloud have been developed with the small business user in mind. You purchase only what you need, paying for the amount of computing resources you consume or the number of employees using the hosted software every month. Applications and resources in the cloud are scalable, so you can easily increase capacity or add users (or vice versa) at any time.
“Cloud computing can also give small business owners a competitive advantage by making their company’s IT more flexible. Cloud apps on the internet are accessible wherever the employee is, so those apps can change and evolve and go with them on mobile devices,” Majerus said.
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