VCE Teams with Cisco to Boost Data-Center Security

VCE has teamed with Cisco Systems (CSCO) to optimize its data-center security for enterprises running on Cisco infrastructure. The partnership is expected to help businesses gain more flexibility and agility when managing their hybrid networks.

VCE has unveiled the next-generation version of its Vblock System integrated with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) to help customers build flexible, highly secure data centers that can meet the demands of cloud computing, VCE said in a press release.

VCE’s Vblock System combines compute, network and storage technologies from Cisco, EMC and VMware to provide dynamic pools of resources that an enterprise can intelligently provision and manage depending on their changing business needs.

The combination of Vblock and Cisco ACI allows data-center managers to define a policy based on what an application requires, such as adherence to security compliance and data governance mandates, and continue to enforce the policy even as an app scales up, according to VCE. Customers also can quickly manage applications across leading cloud management platforms, and choose network and security services from more than 45 technology partners in the ACI ecosystem, the company said.

“Customers are finding that with ACI on a VCE Vblock System they have better visibility across the entire enterprise and application deployment time, and time spent on networking administrative activities are significantly reduced,” said VCE’s COO Tim Page. “Most importantly, making networking changes are much faster with significantly lower risk, enabling IT to quickly respond to new or changing business requirements.”

Arquiva, a communications infrastructure provider, is one of the customers that said it’s seen the benefits of using VCE with Cisco ACI. The company needed a new network to adopt a cloud strategy and improve the efficiency of its IT stack and also wanted to invest in new services for its customers, according to VCE.

Arquiva chose a Cisco software-defined network and is extending its VCE converged infrastructure with the ability to gain application-level control and visibility across its entire data center to provide network consistency and high-level security, according to VCE.

The combination of Vblock with Cisco ACI is allowing the company to simplify troubleshooting and rapidly resolve problems for physical, virtual and cloud workloads to enable faster deployment and operational control,” said Paul Freemantle, IT and connectivity director for Arqiva, in the release.

“It became evident pretty quickly that Cisco ACI on a VCE Vblock System will enable Arqiva to deploy more quickly and have greater operational control through multi-layered security capabilities, to meet business and IT objectives,” he said. “We also feel confident that the deep engineering knowledge that Cisco and VCE have of one another’s products will ensure we can deploy our new network with minimum risk, and at speed so we can realize the benefits immediately.”