Cisco Unveils Business Ready Data Center Initiative Allowing Customers to Protect, Optimize and Grow Their Businesses.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 2004

Initiative Backed by Solutions, Services, Partners and Customers

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) today announced the Business Ready Data Center, an initiative to address the need for an intelligent network architecture that facilitates the evolution to a next-generation data center. Business Ready Data Center provides the solutions, services, partners and tested architectural design and deployment guides that allow customers to protect applications and information, share computing and storage resources and support emerging service-oriented architectures.

"Hosting and data center services sit at the heart of our business and our consolidation strategy forms a critical part of our ongoing business model," said Paul Thomas, manager, Connectivity Services, Atos Origin. "We collaborated with Cisco to build a hosting infrastructure in our main data center, optimizing Cisco's Business Ready Data Center vision and roadmap to enable us to create a world-class capability. This strategic approach will lead us toward delivering a true virtual data center environment."

The worldwide enterprise data center networking market is forecast to reach $7 billion by 2007, according to IDC's forthcoming report, Worldwide Enterprise Datacenter Network Forecast, 2003-2007. "In order to accommodate the growing costs associated with maintaining data center assets, addressing vulnerabilities and emerging regulatory requirements, enterprises are embracing new approaches to data center networking," said Lucinda Borovick, program director, Data Center Networks at IDC. "The Business Ready Data Center initiative allows Cisco to address this growing enterprise market with a comprehensive mix of technology and partners."

Recognizing IT executives' desire to evolve to a networked data center, Cisco is committed to delivering an intelligent network foundation, including:

-- Virtualized intelligent network services, such as security and

application optimization

-- Network-hosted application and storage services, such as

volume management and data replication

-- Standardized management interfaces, including support for

CIM/XML and Web Services 

-- Enhanced integration with compute and storage resources, such

as blade servers and storage application appliances

-- Increased automation through integrated systems intelligence,

such as self-defending networks

"Today's CIOs are faced with lowering costs, improving business resilience and providing a platform for growth," said Pierre-Paul Allard, vice president, Worldwide Enterprise Marketing, Cisco Systems. "Cisco's Business Ready Data Center strategy provides customers with the comprehensive technologies, architectural vision, design guidance and support customers require to build the new generation data center."

Cisco is collaborating with industry-leading technology, system integration and support partners including EDS, HP, IBM, Intel and Microsoft, to enable integrated solutions to be offered to joint customers. Collaboration efforts will include sharing of best practices, alignment of architectures and approaches to joint customers, and solution development with selected partners.

The Business Ready Data Center is one of four enterprise Business Ready initiatives. The other three initiatives are Business Ready Campus, Business Ready Branch and Business Ready Teleworker. Cisco Business Ready delivers customers the vision, investment protection, technology and architectural roadmap to ensure that their networks provide a platform to solve business imperatives more quickly, with less cost and more efficiency. For more information about Business Ready Data Center, please visit www.cisco.com/go/datacenter.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) is a worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News and information are available at http://www.cisco.com.

Business Ready Data Center Industry Endorsements

EDS

"Our customers are asking us to help them lower IT costs without sacrificing the flexibility they need to adapt to change," said Jeff Kelly, divisional vice president, EDS Infrastructure Portfolio. "By partnering with Cisco to build a network that will form the foundation of our Agile Enterprise platform, we will utilize Cisco's Business Ready Data Center strategy and designs as we build a shared infrastructure that transforms existing environments for maximum security, operational efficiencies and agility."

Exempla Healthcare

"The decision to use Cisco as our primary vendor for our enterprise architecture was based on technology, future vision and support services for the entire end-to-end network," said Lots Pook, chief technical officer, Exempla Healthcare. "Cisco offered critical technology for Exempla's immediate needs and its long-term goal of securely delivering accurate patient information to caregivers, regardless of location. The Cisco sales and support staff worked closely with Exempla to understand those requirements and determine how Cisco products could best meet Exempla's long-term needs. We were impressed with the way the Cisco team sat down with us, rolled up their sleeves and helped us design and architect the business ready solutions that we have today."

George Washington University 

"At George Washington University, we had the challenge of implementing a robust business continuance strategy to assure critical data and systems availability in order to meet the rapidly growing needs of our students, faculty and staff," said Bret Jones, director, Technology Engineering at George Washington University. "Cisco provided us a multi-service network infrastructure providing the high bandwidth and availability we require for 24/7 business continuity."

HP

"Cisco's Business Ready Data Center provides a networking architecture for the HP Utility Data Center solution that is scalable, reliable and adaptable -- enabling enterprise customers to meet ever-changing business needs," said Paul Santeler, vice president, software solutions, HP. "Through work with partners like Cisco, HP solutions offer customers simplicity, agility and maximum value -- which are key to becoming an Adaptive Enterprise."

IBM

"Businesses are seeking more efficient ways to improve corporate profitability and optimize utilization of existing computing resources to help drive new growth opportunities," said Mark Shearer, vice president, Marketing and Strategy-Systems, Systems and Technology Group, IBM. "We are working with Cisco and its Business Ready Data Center, to identify a solution set for the data center that offers customers flexible, resilient and integrated infrastructures to help them become on demand businesses."

Intel

"The data center is evolving to take increased advantage of the price, performance and reduced complexity benefits offered by the combination of standards-based computing building blocks and a high-performance intelligent network foundation," said Tom Swinford, general manager, Intel LAN Access Division. "By advancing the performance and scale of Gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet connectivity solutions, Intel and Cisco are improving customers' ability to deploy Cisco's Business Ready Data Center to improve server reliance and access to shared storage."