FlexPod Rings in the New Year with New Solutions, Technologies, and Offerings 

FlexPod had a fantastic 2013 and received tremendous recognition for industry leadership and innovation. It takes close collaborate between Cisco and NetApp and flawless execution to create this list:

• Best of TechEd 2013 for the Microsoft Private Cloud solution
• Windows IT Pro award for best hardware appliance.
• Validated designs with 4 of the 5 world's largest software companies -VMware, Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle.
• Solutions capable of being delivered by almost 1,000 resellers in 84 countries including 13 of the 15 world's largest Systems Integrators.
• 3,200 customers and over 100 public customer references.

Cisco and NetApp are not going to rest on our laurels and 2014 offers plenty of opportunity to build on that momentum. We are enhancing FlexPod by introducing industry leading technologies, solutions, and offerings that enable IT to quickly, confidently accelerate application deployment and performance:

• New FlexPod Solutions for Virtualization and Cloud
• Support for Nexus 6000 and 9000 Series Switches
• Addition of Microsoft to the FlexPod Cooperative Support Program
• The Introduction of FlexPod Unified Financing

Please read the NetApp blog post covering our FlexPod Cooperative Support and Unified Financing offerings.  The latest FlexPod solutions and the addition of Cisco Nexus 6000 and 9000 switches are highlighted below.

Enhanced Solutions for Virtualization and Cloud

Cisco and NetApp are introducing new FlexPod designs that provide our customers' tremendous choice and flexibility on their journey to the cloud. FlexPod customers can choose from Microsoft Private Cloud or VMware vSphere 5.1.1 for their virtualization and private cloud solutions.  To the end, we have enhanced the Microsoft Private Cloud and FlexPod with VMWare vSphere 5.1.1 designs with the latest Cisco and NetApp components, enabling enterprises of all sizes to rapid deploy solutions using our latest technologies. FlexPod also expanded its support for Cloud Platforms to include a commercially certified and packaged version of Citrix CloudPlatform 4.2.1 Powered by Apache. FlexPod is a leader in supporting open and flexible architectures based on OpenStack and CloudStack, enabling a broad ecosystem of technology partners and avoiding vendor lock-in. Last but not least, we will be releasing an updated version of FlexPod Express with VMware Vsphere 5.1.1 with Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2.

Comprehensive Support for Nexus Family of Switches

FlexPod has also added support for the Cisco Nexus 6000 and Nexus 9000 Series Switches. FlexPod now offers validated designs covering the breadth of Nexus data center switches. The Cisco Nexus family of switches offer scalability and intelligence to help enterprises manage the proliferation of virtual machines and the challenges of cloud computing. The addition of the Nexus 6000 switch delivers more ports and lower latency than previous switches. In addition, the introduction of the new Nexus 9000 establishes a foundation for future technology enhancements.

We are looking forward to an exciting year with FlexPod. These new solutions and technologies enable FlexPod to meet a broad range of IT needs and run the most business-critical applications.  If you're going to Cisco Live in Milan, please come by the World of Solutions and see our FlexPod demo. To learn more about our FlexPod portfolio visit www.cisco.com/go/flexpod and to see all of our validated designs check out the DesignZone for FlexPod.