They say good things come to those who wait.

That wait was finally over when at the 2017 Cisco Live Berlin in February, Liz Centoni, SVP/GM of Cisco's Computing System Product Group, revealed the Cisco Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack-a powerful and dynamic solution built on Cisco's Unified Computing Systems (UCS) that provides organizations with a scalable hybrid cloud platform that can deliver Microsoft Azure services from their own data center.

Why is this important?

The demands of economics and business flexibility are driving the world's transition to cloud computing. Simultaneously, the explosion of data in the digital age continues. While enterprises are still making sense of the business opportunity, their data center resources are consumed by managing complex infrastructures and cumbersome systems-to say nothing of security threats and compliance issues.

To address these challenges, enterprise customers, who are growing and modernizing their data centers, can often look to service providers for a solution that delivers a unified hybrid cloud experience that spans on-premises, hosted, and public cloud services Cloud service providers who can transform their services to meet these customer demands will undoubtedly generate new and diversified revenue streams. Service-based cloud providers can further differentiate themselves in the market by addressing the demand for hybrid services amidst growing concerns around data sovereignty, data stewardship, and compliance.

Cisco recognized these complex dynamics in how the cloud consumption is delivered today and took a thoughtful and deliberate approach in developing a comprehensive solution that would meet the needs of these diverse customers. The result is that now with Cisco's Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack, service providers can deliver a dynamic and unique platform that will include the following:

• Cisco Generation 4 VIC Card
• Configuration w/ 40GbE end to end
• BMC integrated within each server
• Broad experience across many cloud offerings
• Best in class networking and security related to clouds
• Best in class Integrated Infrastructures
• Dynamic platform designed exclusively for virtualized workloads
• Highly regarded customer service and a strong partnership with a market leader in the service provider market

We are excited to showcase our joint solution at the Microsoft Cloud and Hosting Summit because we believe there is no better partnership that can meet customer's and service provider's needs in the cloud than Cisco and Microsoft. And there is no better infrastructure for cloud service providers than Cisco's (UCS) that delivers on the promise of the Microsoft Azure cloud and the larger promise of cloud computing solutions.

To learn more about what makes the Cisco Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack and the Cisco-Microsoft partnership unique from others, we invite you to join our breakout session (Tuesday, March 21st at 1:15 pm PST) at next week's Microsoft Cloud and Hosting Summit at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bellevue, Washington.

We can't wait to see you all there.