Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Cisco jumps into portable data center market


Cisco hopes the containers will be a vehicle to sell more of its server, networking and other products


Cisco Systems launched its first containerized data center on Monday, coming late to the party but offering some unique management features that could help set it apart from other vendors.
Containerized data centers typically are standard 20- or 40-foot shipping containers packed with servers, switches and other IT equipment. Pioneered by companies such as Verari Systems and Sun Microsystems, they're used to quickly add extra capacity to an existing data center or to bring capacity to a remote location, such as an oil exploration site or a battlefield.
Cisco has opted for a 40-foot container that it says can be up and running in 90 to 120 days from when an order is placed. Like other vendors in the market, Cisco expects customers to stock the containers primarily with its own products, but the racks inside can accommodate other vendors' equipment as well, said Keith Siracuse, a manager and product marketing engineer at Cisco.

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