For many small and midsize businesses, procuring and managing their IT infrastructure are daunting challenges. With servers often dedicated to each application, many organizations have too many servers to maintain and manage. This environment is difficult to control, wastes resources, overburdens IT staff, and strains budgets. Companies can save money and resources by using virtualization to consolidate workloads and streamline management. These customers need a simple solution at an affordable price.
For growing small and midsize organizations beginning to virtualize their networking, storage, and computing environments, FlexPod® Express provides a pretested, low-cost solution that is integrated and delivered by an ecosystem of joint channel partners. FlexPod Express integrates a choice of Cisco UCS® C-Series servers or Cisco UCS Mini Servers, Cisco Nexus® switches, NetApp® FAS storage, and management tools with Cooperative Support into an affordable, easy-to-deploy infrastructure solution. FlexPod Express is available in predefined configurations and is deployed with easy-to-use implementation guides.
Benefits to the FlexPod Express Solution
- Reduces the number of servers and storage capacity required for applications
- Simplifies overall infrastructure
- Optimizes architecture with best-in-class components
- Accelerates deployment times
Organizations can leverage FlexPod Express to reduce the number of servers in their environment through virtualization. This cost-effective solution consolidates common applications, such as e-mail, database, collaboration, or content management—which previously resided on their own servers—into one infrastructure set. With its streamlined architecture and processes, FlexPod Express allows companies to more easily manage IT resources and take advantage of the benefits of virtualization. FlexPod Express supports the leading hypervisors, applications, and management platforms. FlexPod Express was tested with Cisco UCS Director, VMware vSphere®, and Microsoft® Windows Server® 2012 Hyper-V® virtualization platforms.
FlexPod Express Delivers Benefits Based On 3 Key Concepts
- Start right, with a low-cost, easy-to-deploy solution. FlexPod Express is tested and documented by Cisco and NetApp and includes an implementation guide to facilitate integrating the solution with your existing data centre environment.
- Keep it simple. This streamlined solution consolidates your infrastructure, reducing the number of devices to purchase, cable, and power, and it simplifies management.
- Grow smart, with easy infrastructure scaling to keep up with business demands. Protect your investment in equipment and training as FlexPod Express maintains a consistent operational environment as you grow. Scale up by adding components or scale out with a standardized platform to more easily predict budgets and support growth.
