In fact, with data loads increasing exponentially because of the
immutable trends of virtualization, mobilization, cloud computing, big
data and the explosion in rich media applications, there is now a
premium, some might even call it table stakes to be a player, for major
players to fill out their portfolios to make sure they have all the
acceleration touch points that enable higher performance covered.
Why is this important to Cisco? To put it simply, as part of its
over-arching Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) the ability to enhance
applications performance by integrating scalable solid state memory
into the UCS's fabric computing architecture is believed to provide real
differentiated value going forward. This is why an acquisition and not a
strategic partnership was the path taken by Cisco.
As Cisco explains it, as new applications such as virtual desktops
and data analytics increase the stress on traditional storage arrays,
performance is compromised. The company notes, “Bridging the gap between
increased application performance demand from servers and what
traditional storage systems can deliver, requires that solid state
memory systems be brought closer to the application.” WHIPTAIL will
enable Cisco to provide the bridge as UCS architecture evolves by
integrating data acceleration capability into the compute layer.
This will be accomplished by integrating WHIPTAIL's memory systems
with UCS at a hardware and manageability level. Cisco believes this will
simplify customers' data center environments by delivering the required
performance in a fraction of the data center floor space with unified
management for provisioning and administration.
