They broke down a couple key challenges of virtualization – Policy Enforcement, Security in a virtual environment, Management, Automation and the change from network plumbing to fabrics. At the core of the message, is the Data Center is changing. The focus of this change is virtualization. You can either get on board, or watch the work pass by you.

One topic that I have talked about in the past, is a pressing subject with Cisco – the challenges of handoff between the ESX server admins and the network admins. Again, this highlights the core value of the Nexus 1000V. About 20 minutes in, there is a bit of banter about being a “networking guy” or a “server guy”. I think this highlights a key point – To be successful deploying Data Center 3.0 technologies, you really have to be both.

Next they have a demo of the Nexus 1000V. For those of you that haven’t seen the beta in action, you will be pleasantly surprised with how it can simplify the management of your virtual network infrastructure.

Last but not least, they go into how you can leverage WAAS and its 4.1 release to accellerate your virtual desktop infrastructure. As well as showing a cool new way you can run a Windows server on a was box with the new WAVE product.

It is good to see the folks at Cisco participating in the conversation surrounding virtual data centers. I suggest you head over to the TechWise TV YouTube channel and check it out for yourself.Similar Posts:

• Cisco releases Nexus 1000V virtual switch for VMware
• Cisco Nexus 7000 DataCenter switch released – Welcome to DataCenter 3.0
• Simplifying your Data Center with Cisco’s Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender (FEX)
• Where is Colin ? Passing the VCP exam (VMware Certified Professional)
• Nexus 5020 – Consolidated 10 Gig Ethernet and 4 Gig Fibre Channel
• Application Extension API notes – Cisco Live 2008

--Colin McNamara

Interesting TechWise TV episode on virtualization