Cisco Systems (News - Alert) has staked its reputation on building unparalleled data center components, from networking to storage. The move from process-centric to data- and memory-centric computing is already having an impact on current computing trends. This change bodes a completely new approach to understanding data sets and will require new capabilities to perform fast, efficient data analysis, and access cloud-based storage as well as computing power. Cloud solutions typically use some form of computer clustering to achieve this provision of resources, granularly assigned to customers on demand.

Cisco recently announced Data#3 Ltd., one of Australia's largest information and communications technology companies, selected the Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud software solution for its cloud services and data center business. The agreement will allow the company to meet the growing demand for hosted managed services and cloud services in Australia. Many companies are taking a second look at operational overhead and searching for cloud providers who can accommodate scalability requirements. Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud is a self-service provisioning and orchestration software solution for data center automation and IT as a service.

"Data#3 is pleased to provide its customers with a range of best-in-class solutions that meet all their cloud business requirements whether fully managed, on-premises, private cloud or hybrid cloud,” said Patrick Murphy (News - Alert), general manager for managed services at Data#3. “We selected Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud because it allows us to take advantage of our existing technology investments and use it across all of our managed services business as well as our cloud services so we can deliver faster IT provisioning cycle times to increase customer satisfaction and improve business agility."

Platform services generally include operating systems and required services that focus on a specific application, as well as access to necessary services and specialized local resources. With Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud, Data#3 is also enhancing its existing data center, capabilities for customers in a multi-vendor server, network and storage architecture that including Cisco and NetApp FlexPod as well as Vblock(TM) best-in-class integrated platforms.

"As each customer's approach to cloud will be unique, it is critical that our partners can help chart a customer's journey to the cloud that is flexible enough to be deployed on-premises or hosted in a data centre while being simple to deploy and operate," said Sara Adams, managing director of the Partner Business Group for Cisco Australia and New Zealand.