July 30, 2013, 8:45 PM — Cisco and NetApp this week expanded their FlexPod storage and switching portfolio with a new design for big data workloads.
FlexPod Select is a new offering from the companies that is designed for data intensive workloads. It joins the existing and renamed FlexPod Datacenter formerly FlexPod for enterprise cores and services providers, and FlexPod Express formerly ExpressPod for smaller enterprises and branch offices.
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FlexPod is designed to integrate NetApp storage, Cisco networking, and applications and analytics into an automated system that lowers operational expense. FlexPod Select targets high-performance application workloads and will initially address Hadoop big data applications in financial services, government and retail manufacturing.
FlexPod Select combines NetApp E-Series and FAS storage systems, Cisco UCS C-Series servers, Nexus switches and management software, and Hadoop analytics. Two Hadoop configurations will be validated by the companies for storage, compute, connectivity and management: Cloudera's Distribution including Apache Hadoop; and Hortonworks Data Platform.
Cisco and NetApp also broadened the current FlexPod Datacenter and Express offerings. FlexPod Datacenter now includes the Cisco Nexus 7000 switch for 10G density up to 768 ports, end-to-end FibreChannel-over-Ethernet, and data center interconnection. It also supports disk-to-disk-to-tape backup and recovery, and implementation guidance for VMware, NAS shares, and Microsoft Exchange.Since its launch in 2010, FlexPod has grown to more than 2,400 customers, Cisco and NetApp say.
Jim Duffy has been covering technology for over 25 years, 21 at Network World. He also writes The Cisco Connection blog and can be reached on Twitter @Jim_Duffy.
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