They go by names like Blackbeard & Basis-Pro. They're the best of the best. The top of the SAP cognoscenti food chain. The SAP Mentors, an elite group of gurus from customers, consultants, and SAP. They're in their element here, prowling#SAPTechEd for the slickest, tastiest new technologies, judging who has the stuff to impress.

And Cisco Data Center does not disappoint.   Last week I previewed two solutions we're unveiling here in Vegas: Software Defined Storage and Tetration Analytics. However the city of bright lights is no place for the meek. So Cisco doubled down with two more hot new solutions to share with this august SAP TechEd audience:

• First we introducedSoftware Defined Storage, a flexible, re-deployable approach to integrated storage, designed to protect your investment and expand your SAP data center infrastructure options.

• Then we previewedTetration, a DVR for your data center, allowing a level of pervasive network visibility and analytics heretofore unimagined and unavailable.  Featured in our booth and presented in half a dozen sessions, the interest here has been tremendous.

• But we're not done! This week at TechEd we are unveiling our newIoT Foundation Solution for SAP, which provides end-to-end IoT Analytics for SAP, quickly collecting, processing, and analyzing massive amounts of data to gain better insights in less time.

• And finally, Cisco and SAP are partnering withDeloitteon theirS/4 accelerator methodology. Deloitte's slick new deployment offer leverages our SAP-certified Benjamin architecture, which includes Cisco ACI policy-based provisioning, to provide
  one-click deployment of S/4.

Was it enough?  Will the#SAPMentors be impressed?   We hope so.  But in the meantime, we know our innovations around SAP infrastructure are attracting a lot of attention here in Vegas; Day 1 set a record for number of visitors to the Cisco booth!

The solutions we're driving have struck a cord with the engineers with whom we spoke, most of whom telling us that Cisco is addressing the issues that are top of mind: Enhanced Security & Governance, Efficient Provisioning and Automation, Superior Management and Platform Flexibility.

If you missed us at SAP TechEd, or are interested in hearing more about how Cisco can improve your SAP data center, please visit our website or talk to your Cisco rep. Or better yet, ask an SAP Mentor!