Cisco unveils Business Ready Data Center initiative.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) has 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."

"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.