As 2012 comes to a close, it's a good time to reflect on what we've experienced in data centre virtualisation over the past 12 months.

Let's start with our customers. We're seeing Australian businesses of all sizes and industry verticals using Cisco UCS to gain solid advantages to their business and lowering IT costs.  And while market share can vary from quarter to quarter, we are enormously pleased that for the first time leading analyst firm IDC has reported that Cisco is the current market share leader for x86 blade servers in Australia (Source: IDC Q3 CY2012 x86 Blade Server Market Share, Nov. 28, 2012).

This is particularly significant and an incredible feat considering that Cisco only entered the Australian server market three years ago and is testament to our customers and our partners who have enabled us to reach this position through the creation of value-added solutions that serve the market.

Without a doubt our greatest congratulations must be reserved for our partners. In 2012, we saw over 200 partners in Australia, who share our vision for accelerating virtualisation in the data centre, create value-added solutions that are driving transformation in customers' data centres.

Here's a highlight of what hear from our customers and partners on how Cisco UCS is helping to drive significant business outcomes in their data centres. Thank you to all our customers and partners -may you continue to grow your businesses in 2013!

• In the banking sector, we had two major wins announced this year. At Cisco Live 2012 we announced the implementation of Cisco UCS by ING Direct,with our partners Microsoft, NetApp and Dimension Data as part of the innovative "Bank in a Box" which provides the capacity to replicate a virtual instance of the banking platform for developers to patch, modify or extend in an isolated sandbox. Last month we also announced that the only bank in Australia 100 percent owned by Australia's leading industry super funds, ME Bank will implement Cisco UCS in order to streamline its data centre processes with our partners NetApp, VMware and Alphawest.
• We have also seen success with Brisbane Airport, Australia's third largest airport, deploying a private cloud solution built on Cisco UCS with Logicalis, EMC and VMware. The importance of an efficient and reliable data centre for a major airport is critical and the decision to implement Cisco UCS for this infrastructure is a testament to our reputation in the server and cloud space.
• Australia Post announced that it is using Telstra Cloud Services to host its' new digital mailbox -and Telstra's cloud services are hosted on Cisco UCS and Cisco Nexus Series Switches.
• The Cisco and NetApp FlexPod with VMware and VMTech has also been implemented at Australia's most iconic building, the Sydney Opera House, to support its Web site, ticketing, CRM and event management applications.
• The Cisco UCS is also part of the foundation of a global mega-science project to build the world's largest radio telescope with our announcement earlier this week of its use in the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) project, the precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).