Data Center Cost Rationalization

for Cisco UCS (Unified Computing System)

Having created a complete picture of multi-level

relationships and associated asset classes in the UCS, the

discovery and inventory data is cleansed and checked

for accuracy. A central repository contains all operational

meta-data, the full inventory of assets, hardware/software

topologies and relationship dependencies.

This can then be integrated into a CMDB and used to

produce in-depth insights into the server and application

inventory across multiple UCS estates, informing asset

managers about their license position and IT operations

about optimization and migration projects.

Unique benefits

• Get unparalleled visibility of the UCS stack– the

complex dependencies and their context in relation

to virtual machines and underlying infrastructure –

and deliver greater efficiencies and performance

• Drive cost savings by improving license management

positions – get audit insulation and avoid costly

overspends.

• Optimize applications to deliver significant

performance improvements with valuable insights

that drive business benefits

• Manage UCS investments to maximize licensing

efficiency on converged infrastructure

• Migrate to and from UCS platforms confident in the

knowledge that application performance will

be maximized

The Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) has become

a primary building block in data centers, delivering the

benefits of converged infrastructure in ready-to-deploy

stacks. By integrating network, compute, storage access,

and virtualization into a single cohesive system, UCS

simplifies IT Transformation for thousands

of organizations.

To maximize the opportunity, however, organizations

need to have a granular understanding of how their

workloads run. They need clear visibility inside their

UCS instances.

Why? Because the benefits of agile infrastructure are

undermined if you are overpaying for software licenses

or running applications that underperform. It’s all too

easy to deploy new workloads that fail on both counts.

This is a real challenge in the UCS world, which is why

Cisco has partnered with iQuate to provide a solution

to help.

How it works

iQuate is a member of the Cisco Solution Partner

Program and helps Cisco execute effective IT initiatives

around data center consolidation, optimization and

converged infrastructure management.

Specifically for UCS, our market leading iQSonar solution

uses our purpose built, patented discovery engine

to scan servers and applications, gathering detailed

information and mapping dependencies around

hardware, operating systems, clustering and

virtualization technologies.

DATA CENTER COST RATIONALIZATION FOR CISCO UCS (UNIFIED COMPUTING SYSTEM)

Maximize your Cisco UCS investments and rationalize data center software costs by leveraging the power of iQSonar from iQuate to reduce licensing exposure and

optimize application performance.

Oracle Microsoft IBM

www.iquate.com/product/

info@iquate.com

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@iQuate

For more information on iQuate:

how the move can reduce software costs and improve

performance by utilizing smaller, more powerful clusters

with fewer cores. This matters because the mixed estate

of Oracle, Microsoft and IBM software uses multiple

cores multiple times, increasing licensing costs.

The migration becomes an opportunity to reorganize

workloads, consolidating applications and cores. The

solution is to replace four old rack servers with two

more powerful Cisco UCS rack servers, and upgrade

to new Cisco blade servers. This will lead to a three

times improvement in performance and significant cost

savings on software licenses. The return on investment

is further enhanced by a reduction in space, power and

cooling requirements.

In this before and after scenario, iQSonar helps reduce

application portfolio costs by rationalizing enterprise

software in two UCS clusters. The plan is to migrate to

a new cluster to benefit from the improved CPU in the

latest iteration of Cisco UCS.

The current workload layout is mapped out, together

with a recommended workload placement strategy.

iQSonar’s discovery and dependency mapping reveals

EXAMPLE: CUT LICENSE COSTS AND OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE

Before

After