Cisco has introduced CloudVerse as a framework designed to help organizations build, manage and connect public, private and hybrid clouds. Cisco CloudVerse combines three elements — Unified Data Center, Cloud Intelligent Network, and Cloud Applications and Services.
Cisco’s CloudVerse initiative comes on the heels of a recent study that found dramatic growth in cloud-based services. The Cisco Cloud Index, issued last week, predicts that more than 50% of computing workloads in data centers will be cloud-based by 2014, and that global cloud traffic will grow more than 12 times by 2015.
IN DEPTH: New Cisco cloud computing framework pushes management, collaboration
As part of the initiative, Cisco has also launched enhancements to the company’s Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) platform that will support the Cloud Applications and Services piece of the CloudVerse framework. Among the new capabilities being added to HCS to enable both Cisco and third-party applications “as a service”:
• Private Cloud HCS is designed to help enterprises to build their own collaboration cloud using Cisco’s solution and full management capabilities.
• Mobile HCS gives mobile service providers a platform to offer collaboration from the cloud with a focus on extending services from “fixed” devices to mobile phones. For example, with Mobile HCS, providers can connect thousands of mobile users with single-number reach or transition a customer call from a desk phone to a mobile phone while the call is in progress.
• Cisco Customer Collaboration offerings are being incorporated into HCS. These offerings are available on a limited basis now and targeted for general availability in 2012.
CloudVerse is also enabled by combining Cisco’s professional and technical services expertise with a broad ecosystem of partners, including: ACS, a Xerox Company; Fujitsu; NWN; LinkedIn; Orange Business Services; Qualcomm; Silicon Valley Bank; Telecom Italia; Telefónica S.A.; Telstra; and Terremark, a Verizon Company.
Commenting in a statement on the announcement, Padmasree Warrior, Cisco’s CTO and senior vice president of engineering, said, “Cisco uniquely enables the world of many clouds — connecting people, communities and organizations with a business-class cloud user experience for the next-generation Internet. We are very pleased that many of the world’s leading businesses and service providers are adopting CloudVerse as the foundation of their cloud strategies, and we look forward to partnering closely with them on their journey to a world of many clouds.”
