Cisco Extends Storage Networking Solutions with Greater Data Protection, Increased Bandwidth and Simplified Provisioning

Data is growing at an astonishing rate. Trends like cloud, IoT and digitization are imposing higher demands on how data is managed, transported, backed up and restored. Increased business dependence on IT means downtime has more meaningful and tangible impact on business operations. There is almost universally increased focus on disaster recovery and business continuance along with the ability to scale and manage data efficiently.

To alleviate these concerns, Cisco today introduced new storage networking solutions that help customers to respond quickly to new business needs, control IT costs, meet compliance requirements and continue business during disruptions. The new Cisco solutions help customers not only with their Business continuance strategy but also to build and scale their data center of the future by enabling them to manage their businesses cost-effectively. With these announcements, Cisco further cements its market leadership in providing both choice and value for server and storage connectivity.

Attend webinar to learn more: Nov 3rd, 9:00 AM PST

Announcements Highlight

SAN-Extension/FCIP Module on Cisco MDS 9700 Storage Networking modular platforms to build highly available and redundant infrastructure: High-performance and high-density SAN Extension FCIP module to enable disaster recovery/business continuity solutions

Raising the bar of LAN/SAN convergence: Enhanced 10/40G Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and 25G/50G/100G IP Storage Networking Capabilities on Nexus 9K – ACI mode and Standalone mode.

Reduce Operational cost via simplified management: The latest Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) (release 10.1) extends manageability of SAN/LAN to storage arrays, enabling customers to automate provision of end to end LAN /SAN and storage devices/arrays.

Simplified SAN Extension for scaling geographically dispersed datacenters

The new FCIP Module (Cisco MDS 9000 Family 24/10 SAN Extension Module) offers 24 ports line rate 16G, FC, and 10 Ports of 1/10GE FCIP/iSCSI while providing high-performance SAN Extension solutions. The Module also has two ports of 40GE FCIP capability, support for which will be available in a future release. This solution simplifies data protection and business continuance strategies by enabling backup, remote replication, and other disaster-recovery services across the globe bringing FCIP capabilities to MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors.

In the past, , Cisco offered FCIP services only on the Cisco MDS 9250i. With the introduction of this new module, customers now have the option to use flagship MDS 9700 Directors to build high-performance SAN extension with the highest reliability and with integrated FCIP solutions.

Raising the bar of LAN/SAN Convergence – 10G/40G FCoE enhancements along with 25G/50G/100G IP Storage Networking capabilities on Nexus 9000 Family

The next generation Cisco Nexus 9000 switches, a key component of the Cisco Data Center architecture and ACI, provide unmatched flexibility and scale with its Cloud Scale and multi-protocol innovations, unlike disparate solutions. The freedom of choice coupled with proven operating system and management enable an evolutionary adoption and consistent SAN and LAN networking operations.

The newly introduces 10/40G FCoE Enhancements along with 100G/50G/25G IP Storage Networking capabilities on Nexus 9000 Platform further enables the consolidation of LAN and SAN networks into a single high-performance network over lossless Ethernet, thereby reducing the TCO of server network adapters, cables, and switches while improving operations agility.  Designed with Cisco Cloud Scale technology, it supports highly scalable cloud architectures, with the option to operate in Cisco NX-OS or Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) mode

Use Case: Integrating Nexus 9K FCoE and Programmable Fabric

Typically, Nexus 9K is used in spine/leaf architecture, and the new FCoE enhancements enable seamless connectivity from 9K leaf (typically the Cisco Nexus 9200 or Nexus 9300) to Cisco MDS 9000 SAN – enabling transparent connectivity from the access to the SAN core.

The newly introduced 10G/40G FCoE and 10/25/40/50/100G IP Storage capabilities on Cisco Nexus 9000 delivers superior performance for storage connectivity, to support tomorrow’s mission-critical applications, massive amounts of data and cloud-based environments while leveraging today’s knowledge base and procedures.

DCNM Connect – Automate Storage Array provision

In addition to these new products, to increase efficiency and simplify end to end storage provisioning and management, Cisco is extending DCNM features to enhance Storage management and provisioning capabilities. These new features help IT administrators reduce time to introduce new applications and services. The latest DCNM (release 10.1) extends manageability of SAN/LAN to storage arrays, enabling customers to implement efficiently, visualize, and manage end to end SAN/LAN and storage devices/arrays

Bottom Line

The newly introduced Cisco Storage portfolio enables you to protect, scale and simplify storage area networks efficiently.

The new Cisco SAN Extension solution simplifies data protection and business continuance strategies by enabling backup, remote replication, and other disaster-recovery services over MAN/WAN distances bringing FCIP capabilities to MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors. The newly introduces 10/40G FCoE Enhancements along with 25G/50G/100G  IP Storage Networking capabilities on the Nexus 9000 Platform further enables the consolidation of LAN and SAN networks into a single high-performance network. The latest version of DCNM removes the need for multiple management applications by enabling DCNM to provision SAN arrays from a single pane of glass to reduce complexity.

Cisco is the leader in providing both choice and value for server and storage connectivity!

For more info:

Webinar: Nov 3rd , 9:00 PST

Storage Networking and IP Storage Networking

Tony Antony
Sr Marketing Manager