NetApp, Cisco and VMware today extended their existing partnerships via an integration deal focused on the “dynamic data center” that involves virtualization and cloud computing.

From a business perspective, the deal is similar to the partnership between EMC, Cisco and VMware announced last November (see “EMC, Cisco form cloud coalition with VMware”).

At the core of the NetApp-Cisco-VMware partnership is the Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture, a reference design with the goal of enhanced security in cloud environments.

“Secure multi-tenancy is about providing technologies from the three companies that enable customers to safely share the same infrastructure so that they can have multiple tenants . . .each of which can have allocation of slices of compute, network and storage resources,” says Ed Bugnion, vice president and CTO for Cisco’s Server, Access and Virtualization business unit. “We’re driving towards the ability to scale and collapse zones of virtualization into a single, shared infrastructure. The benefits will be simplified deployment and much greater efficiencies in the data center.”

None of the vendors introduced new products today, but the partnership includes pre-tested, integrated configurations involving the following products:

Cisco’s Nexus 7000, 5000 and 1000V switches and Unified Computing System (UCS)
VMware’s vSphere and vShield Zones
NetApp’s FAS storage systems with MultiStore and NetApp Data Motion software

The reference architecture was certified as a Cisco Validated Design.

End-user solutions will typically be delivered by the trio’s third-party partners. Initial partners include Cognizant, ECCOM, ePlus Technology, Forsythe, INX, Lockheed Martin, Logicalis, Long View Systems, MSI Systems Integrators, Presidio, Trace 3 and World Wide Technology.

NetApp, Cisco and VMware also announced a cooperative support model for the design architecture.

For details of the announcement, register here for today’s live event (“Imagine Virtually Anything”) at noon ET, 9:00a.m. PT. Presenters will include NetApp’s Tom Georgens, VMware’s Paul Maritz and Cisco’s Tony Bates. A Q&A session will follow.

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