Cisco Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack: The Game Changer for Cloud Service Providers

Cisco Blog >Partner

They say good things come to those who wait.

That wait was finally over when at the 2017 Cisco Live Berlin conference 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 public, on-premises, and hosted cloud services. Cloud service providers who can transform their services to meet these customer demands will undoubtedly generate new and diversified revenue streams. Service 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 to developing a comprehensive solution that would meet the needs of these diverse customers. The result is Cisco's Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack-a dynamic platform that will allow cloud service providers to:

• Enable digital transformation by delivering best-in-class hybrid, IaaS and PaaS services using Microsoft Azure and Cisco UCS
• Help customers to realize 300%% ROI and lower infrastructure costs by 46% with 89% less unplanned downtime
• Protect customer and business data with Cisco and Microsoft's commitment to threat-centric security
• Deliver industry-leading performance and operational control with Gen 4 Cisco Virtual Interface Card and Unified Fabric

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 can deliver the accelerated growth, innovation, simplified management and control that customers are looking for today.

To learn more about what makes Cisco's 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 there.