Executive Affairs Authority in Abu Dhabi Chooses VCE Vblock Platform for Virtualization and Cloud Computing Solutions

Abu Dhabi Government Agency Becomes First in the UAE and Gulf to Engage VCE for Data Center Transformation with Cisco, EMC and VMware Converged Infrastructure

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – October 12, 2011 – Cisco, EMC, and VMware announced today that the Executive Affairs Authority (EAA) in Abu Dhabi has chosen the VCE Vblock^TM Infrastructure Platform from VCE to increase business agility through greater IT infrastructure flexibility, and lower IT, energy and real estate costs through pervasive  data center virtualization and a transition to private cloud infrastructures.  VCE is the Virtual Computing Environment company formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel. Through the Vblock platform, VCE delivers the industry’s first completely integrated IT offering with end-to-end vendor accountability.

The contract represents the first Vblock™ Infrastructure deployment in the UAE, involving the strategic collaboration that combines best-of-breed virtualization, networking, compute and storage technologies. The EAA, a specialized government agency mandated to provide strategic policy advice to the Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council,  will benefit from the Vblock’s single support for all the three companies for fast remediation of any technical issues or support requirements. Furthermore, the Vblock Management tools will help the EAA to dynamically provision compute and storage resources based on its changing business needs.

IT organizations, worldwide, are adopting a private cloud model that delivers pervasive virtualization in a single integrated platform that combines computing, network, storage, virtualization, and management capabilities. The private cloud is an efficient way to unify the technology underlying an enterprise’s business. In a single platform, Vblock combines computing, network, storage, virtualization, and management capabilities with virtualized applications and operating systems. Vblock Infrastructure Platforms are the integrated infrastructure units that deliver scalable, high-performance applications to run in a private cloud.

Highlights / Key Facts:

• VCE is a key enabler of the future of enterprise IT infrastructure – cloud computing. A private cloud is a virtual IT infrastructure that is controlled and operated solely for one organization. It can be managed either by that organization or a third party, and it can exist on or off premises or in combination. Cloud computing offers the controls and security of today’s data center with the agility required for business innovation at substantially lower costs.
•  Worldwide spending on data center technology infrastructure and services exceeds $350 billion¹annually, according to McKinsey and Company estimates, with half of that spent on capital expenses (products) and half on operating expenses (services and labor). Additionally, an estimated 70 percent² or more of those costs are expended to maintain existing infrastructures, leaving 30 percent or less for new technology initiatives and applications that can provide breakthrough differentiation for businesses. It is also estimated that approximately $85 billion³, or 20 percent of this total market, can be addressed with data center virtualization and private cloud technology by 2015.
• The agreement will encompass the deployment of a number of Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS™) technologies within the EAA’s data center to include the Cisco UCS chassis, blade servers, SAN switches, EMC networked storage systems and backup solutions and VMware vSphere virtualization technology.

Executive Quotes:

• David Scott, executive director,  EAA

“The EAA was impressed by the capability of VCE and the Cisco Unified Computing System to unite compute, network and virtualization resources into a single cohesive system.

Among other advantages, Cisco’s decision to team with EMC and VMware leveraged the capability of experienced eco-system partners to reduce the energy requirements of our systems.”

• Baraa Khamis, IT manager,  EAA

“The EAA sees virtualization and cloud computing as key enablers to move forward in building our private virtualized cloud. The selected Vblock technology supports EAA’s requirements for a data center whilst offering the flexibility to scale to meet aggressive growth requirements and to rapidly roll out new services.”

• Wayne Hull, director and general manager, Cisco, UAE

“The Virtual Computing Environment coalition offers organizations of all sizes an accelerated approach to data center transformation with dramatic efficiencies that promise significant reductions in both capital and operating expenses. As a result, organizations will no longer have to choose between best-of-breed technologies and end-to-end vendor accountability. The Cisco team demonstrated the ability to provide the EAA Data Center 3.0 vision combined with the networking solutions to equip them with the right technology for date center virtualization and cloud computing services.”

• Said Akar, district manager, EMC, South Gulf

“One of the primary motivations for adopting a converged IT infrastructure such as Vblock is  to achieve cloud readiness and to reduce the overall complexity that is associated with enabling a fully virtualized infrastructure. This will enable EAA to capitalize on their virtualized infrastructure’s inherent potential to serve as an agile, demand-driven platform that can deliver dynamic IT services with unprecedented levels of control, security, compliance, reliability, and cost efficiency.”

Links / URLs:

• Middle East News: http://newsroom.cisco.com/me

• For more details about Cisco, VMware and EMC Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) coalition visit: http://www.vce.com/

About the EAA

The Executive Affairs Authority (EAA) is a specialized government agency mandated to provide strategic policy advice to the Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The EAA provides the Chairman of the Executive Council with analysis and advice across all portfolios of Government, and facilitates greater coordination in the development and implementation of policy in the Emirate. H.E Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak is Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority. For more details visit: http://www.eaa.gov.ae/Sites/EAA/Navigation/EN/government-in-abu-dhabi.html

About VCE

VCE, the Virtual Computing Environment Company formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, accelerates the adoption of converged infrastructure and cloud-based computing models that dramatically reduce the cost of IT while improving time to market for our customers. VCE, through the Vblock platform, delivers the industry’s first completely integrated IT offering with end-to-end vendor accountability. VCE’s prepackaged solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical industry offerings, and application development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating and managing IT infrastructure.

For more information, go to www.vce.com.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.  Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.  For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in emerging markets is provided by Cisco Systems International B.V. and Cisco International Limited, wholly owned subsidiaries of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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