Going after European data centers with the promise of making life easier for IT managers, Cisco Systems linked up with Fujitsu Siemens Computers on Wednesday.

Networking vendors, with Cisco leading the charge, want to integrate networks tightly with processing and storage, building functions such as security and application performance management into the communications infrastructure. Meanwhile, the emerging service-oriented architecture approach to enterprise IT calls for more flexible communication among all parts of a data center. Making these two companies’ gear work together in a package will help to simplify large enterprise data centers, and make IT operations more efficient and flexible, according to the vendors.

Cisco will work with Fujitsu Siemens on combined data center computing and storage systems. The collaboration initially is focused on the European and Asia-Pacific markets because of Fujitsu Siemens’ account relationships, though the fruits of the collaboration will be available worldwide, said Cisco spokeswoman Kristina Scott. The system vendor, based in Maarssen, Netherlands, is a joint venture of Siemens and Fujitsu, and sells a broad range of client and server hardware and services.

The companies are kicking off their work together by modifying a stackable Gigabit Ethernet switch from Cisco’s Catalyst line for integration as a blade in Fujitsu Siemens’ Primergy BX600 line of blade servers. It is available immediately through the server maker and its channels. Also beginning immediately, Fujitsu Siemens will act as a system integrator, bringing Cisco MDS 9000 Multilayer Directors and Fabric Switches into storage deployments with its own Storage Solutions portfolio.

-Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service

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