Cisco launches Nexus 5000

Cisco has unveiled the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series of data center-class switches. Cisco claims the product series introduces industry-leading interoperability via an ecosystem of application and accelerated adoption with a data center channel partner enablement strategy.

The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series 'Ecosystem Partners' include APC, Dell, EMC, NetApp, QLogic and VMWare.

The channel program will be expanded to allow partners to build a network-centric data centre practice with Cisco highlighting an expected US$10 billion in products over the next five years and an additional $US4 billion in services revenue.

Edison Peres, vice president Worldwide Channels, Cisco said the relevance of the services part of their business is growing faster than even the technology part of this business because this is an architectural play.

"Architechtural play has a lot of opportunity for design which has a lot of opportunity for professional services. What we did this time around is we are also announcing a new valued incentive program,” he said.

According to Peres, the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series is designed for data centre consolidation with investment protection, helping to allow customers transition to a 'unified fabric' at their own pace.

"Cisco and its channel partners are uniquely positioned to lead the transformation of the data center into an agile and efficient network that revolutionises how our customers adopt new IT strategies and respond to changing business needs," he said.