Unleashing IT, Winter 2012

8/2/2019 Unleashing IT, Winter 2012

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In collaboration with

When mobile and cloud collide

In a virtual world, infrastructure matters

Building (of)

the futureHow Loretta Cockrum and Allen Firouz

envisioned and developed one of the most

technologically advanced, cloud-ready office

buildings in the world.

Unleashing IT Seize innovation,accelerate business,driveoutcomes.All through thecloud.

Winter 2012


2/16

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Unleashing ITis published by Cisco Systems, Inc. We welcome your feedback on the articles in this feature at: www.UnleashingIT.com

Pages 4, 5 1 International Telecommunication Union, October 2010. 2 Cisco, Mobile Consumers Reach for the Clouds, July 2011. 3 CThe Mobile Cloud: When Two Explosive Markets Collide, June 2011.Page 6 1 Cloud First, Cloud Fast: Recommendations for Innovation, Leadership, and Job Creation, TechAmerica Foundation, July 20112Cloud Computing Now Makes it Easier (and Cheaper) to Innovate: Study, Forbes.com, October 12, 2011.

2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco CloudVerse, Cisco UCS, Cisco Unified Computing Systand Cisco Nexus are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cistrademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective ownersThe use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1201)

2012 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMwproducts are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents.VMware is a registered trademark or trademaof VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their

respective companies.

Perspectives and Solutions

03 In a virtual world, infrastructure matters Cisco and VMware come together to ease the journey

to the cloud.

04 When mobile and cloud collide

New research reveals big opportunities for service

providers and businesses.

06 Accelerating innovation in the cloud

CLOUD2 Commission report reveals new prospectsfor innovation.

Experiences

07 Cisco proves the power of the cloud

Ciscos own internal cloud helps IT support business

agility through self-service and automated provisioning.

10 Welcome to the future of utilitarian

business computing

How Miamis Foram Group developed one of the most

technologically advanced, cloud-enabled office buildings

in the world.

12 Handing IT management to business users

FICOs private cloud will enable business teams to quickly

bring new products, features, and services to market.

13 Enabling clinicians to move with the pace of care

St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust leverages CiscoNetwork Architecture Blueprint to support business and

clinical priorities.

Cover Loretta Cockrum (left), CEO of Foram Group,and Allen Firouz, CEO of Venturian Group

Unleashing IT Seize innovation,accelerate business,driveoutcomes.All through thecloud.

Winter 2012

In collaboration with

Why infrastructure matters

Our cloud approach brings together the intelligence

of the network, the power of the data center, and the

flexibility of applications to transform traditional IT to

service-oriented IT. The result is better economics

and greater flexibility. And the potential is endless.

This issue of Unleashing ITfocuses specifically ona core element of that cloud equation: the power of

the data center. In collaboration with VMware and

ecosystem partners, Cisco is enabling a dynamic

cloud infrastructure fabric that is virtualization aware

and cloud ready. On the next page, you can read

more about how Cisco and VMware are working

together to build the infrastructure foundation for

enterprise-ready clouds that deliver seamlessness,

consistency, security, and performance.

With the power of a virtualization-aware data center

infrastructure, Cisco has changed its IT/business

relationship model by deploying Cisco IT Elastic

Infrastructure Services (CITEIS), an internal cloud(page 7). And Foram Group implemented Cisco cloud-

enabled infrastructure to deliver connectivity, flexibility,

and capability in their office building of the future (page 10).

For us, cloud is not a concept. It is a viable IT delivery

model that is proving its worth through improved

economics and flexibility. Cisco infrastructure,

enabled by VMware cloud infrastructure software,

is at the core of those transformational capabilities.

Together, we remain committed to innovating and

unifying the data center to enable new levels of

flexibility into resource access and sharing.

For more information, follow the links inside or

contact Cisco at 1-800-553-6387 and select

option 1 to speak with a Cisco representative.

We welcome your feedback on the articles in this

feature at: www.UnleashingIT.com

Sincerely,

Wendy Bahr

Sr. VP,

Worldwide Partner Organization

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Jeff Casale

Sr. VP & GM,

Americas

VMware, Inc.
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While the ultimate goal for most

organizations is to get to the cloud

stateless architectures on multi-tenant

platforms that enable rapid reallocation of

resources and consolidation in a secure,

predictable mannermany of them still rely

on a combination of dedicated physical

resources, dynamic virtual resources, and

automatically scaling cloud resources.

With the reality of heterogeneousinfrastructure, organizations still want a

consistent user experience for enterprise

applications, says Prashant Gandhi, Senior

Director of Product Management, Server

Access Virtualization Technology Group

(SAVTG) at Cisco. They also want to be

able to migrate any application to the cloud

delivery model to take advantage of on-

demand capabilities and greater elasticity.

But in making that journey, inevitable

challenges arise in terms of performance,

security, and manageability.

Working together, Cisco and VMware have

anticipated those challenges and address

them through differentiated integration points

between infrastructure and virtualization. The

result is a dynamic infrastructure fabric with

consistent capabilities across physical and

virtual environments, the required foundation

for an enterprise-ready cloud that can deliver

seamlessness, consistency, security, and

performance.

A legacy of innovation

Cisco and VMware have been working

together since 2007, building on individual

innovations to maximize the relationship

between infrastructure and virtualized

workloads. Cisco has been focusing on

the networking, compute, security, and

manageability components to support and

enable VMwares virtualization components.

Cisco infrastructure, in its design and

development, is virtualization aware,

says Gandhi. Layering our partnership

with VMware on top of those inherent

capabilities, we are able to offer a level of

consistency, seamlessness, automated

operations, and management across the

physical and virtual environments.

In 2008, Cisco launched the Cisco Nexus

1000V to enable consistent networkingbetween physical and virtual environments.

Building on that in 2009, the Cisco Unified

Computing SystemTM(UCS) introduced fabric

computing, changing the server paradigm

by uniting network, compute, virtualization,

and storage access all in one platform.

In 2010, the partnership took another step

forward with further improvements in Cisco

UCS performance as well as overlay transport

virtualization on Cisco Nexus7000, which

propelled VMware vSphereTM vMotion across

data centers. The Virtual Security Gatewayalso added a stateful virtual firewall for the

Nexus 1000V, which created an architecture

for providing VM-level controls for securing

multi-tenant environments. New standards

were the focus for 2011, with Cisco and

VMware working closely on Virtual Extensible

LAN (VXLAN). With 16 million LAN segments

supported by VXLAN, virtual machines and

vApps can be isolated at the network level

while allowing them to migrate broadly across

pods within an enterprise or cloud data center.

Cisco and VMware have been working inclose collaboration to accelerate data center

transformation, says Soni Jiandani, Senior

Vice President, SAVTG at Cisco. Cisco

UCS and Nexus product families work with

VMware to deliver the full spectrum of end-

to-end virtualization from the network access

layer to the compute server infrastructure

down to the desktop.

The future

Enabling maximum choice for customers wit

heterogeneous environments remains the go

for both companies.

Our partnership with Cisco has resulted in

numerous technology innovations that are

delivering strategic value across customer

environments, says Raghu Raghuram, Sen

Vice President and General Manager, Clou

Infrastructure and Management, VMware.

With new and enhanced technology

integrations, were continuing to help

customers transform their data centers for

enterprise hybrid cloud computing and the

desktops for the post-PC era.

Upcoming innovations include the full

integration of Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual

switch with VMware vCloudTM Director 1.5;

the future integration of ASA 1000V cloud

firewall to offer tenant-level security and

edge gateway into VMware vCloud Directoand Overdrive network services manager;

and the ongoing commitment to standardiz

VXLAN for secure, fluid movement of virtua

resources across cloud infrastructures. Wh

the ideal scenario is to have as much cloud

capability as possible supporting business

users, the current reality is heterogeneity,

says Gandhi. To truly actualize the enterpr

cloud, we need to build the right foundation

that integrates a fabric able to span physica

virtual, and cloud resources. Cisco, in

partnership with VMware, is creating that

type of dynamic infrastructure withoutsacrificing the performance, scalability, and

security needed for application consistency

and the management and policy needed fo

operational consistency.

Continue reading for more examples of

how Cisco and VMware collaborate in th

cloud and for customers.

Seize innovation, accelerate business, drive outcomes. All through the Cloud.

In a virtual world,infrastructure matters

Perspectives and Solution

Cisco and VMware have come together to enable seamlessness,

consistency, security, and performance as organizations journey

through heterogeneous environments on their way to the cloud.


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Perspectives and Solutio

Unleashing IT4

Close to 80 percent1 of the worlds

population now has access to a mobile

phone, and new devices like the iPhone

and Android smartphones are bringing a

throng of applications and services to the

palms of peoples hands. At the same

time, cloud has become the new way of

deliveringand charging forIT services

and functionality.

So, what happens when two of the

hottest technology trendsmobility and

cloudcollide?

To find the answers, Cisco Internet

Business Solutions Group (IBSG) conducted

a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. mobile

users to understand their current and

future needs. The results revealed a host

of opportunities for those who capitalize on

this ready-to-explode market.

Our findings were very clear, says Scott

Puopolo, Vice President and global head

of Cisco IBSG. Mobile users want to

move to the cloud, and they want unique

mobile cloud services.

The opportunity for service providers

(SPs), he adds, is staggering.

The research indicates mobile customer

are generally satisfied with their current

provider relationships and view mobile

operators as a natural and preferred

source for mobile cloud services, Puopo

explains. Operators also have a strong

brand and relationship with customers tha

they can extend to become customers

premier mobile cloud provider. For these

reasons alone, SPs are well positioned to

flourish in this burgeoning market.

The prospects for businesses are also

considerable.

Our survey revealed that business

users will be key adopters of mobile

cloud services, says Stuart Taylor,Director, Cisco IBSG Service Provider

Practice. They will be quick to embrace

mobile video conferencing, document

management, and specific business

applications that extend the boundaries o

their offices. By tapping the mobile cloud

New research reveals big opportunities for serviceproviders and businesses in a ready-to-explodemobile cloud market.

When mobile and cloudcollide


5/16


businesses can help employees become

more effective and productive.

A healthcare company, for example, could

arm its emergency medical technicians

(EMTs) with smartphones that help check vital

signs; access a patients medical records;

send real-time video to the ER; communicate

with a patient in their native language; and

create and upload incident reports. Because

the data is securely transmitted and stored in

the cloud, the patients privacy is assured.

In addition to improving operational

efficiency and employee productivity,

businesses can tap the mobile cloud to

enhance customer satisfaction. Several

retailers are already using the mobile

cloud to integrate home and in-store

shopping experiences. A U.K. grocery

chain, for example, allows its customers to

use the barcode scanning capabilities of

smartphones to create shopping lists, see

product details and inventory, and receive

promotional offers at home.

There is untold value for businesses across

all industries, says Taylor, when you draw

on the unique capabilities of those multi-

functional devices that are already in most

peoples pockets.

Therein lays the critical success factor for

SPs and businesses. According to both

Puopolo and Taylor, porting traditional,

wired applications to mobile devices isnt

enough. The greatest areas of needand

the greatest source of opportunityare

for applications that take advantage of the

unique attributes and functionality of todays

and tomorrows mobile devices.

Where voice calling once defined mobile, it

is now just another application or function

for most smartphone users. In fact, voice

calling ranked as the fifth-most-used

function by business users in Cisco IBSGs

survey. Both business users and consumers

are much more interested in using their

smartphones for texting and taking photos,

which ranked first and second, respectively.

In addition, business users are the largest

adopters of more advanced types of

hybrid, dual-persona services that allow

them to readily combine their personal and

professional lives. And, of course, they are

also the largest users of more work-centric

features such as productivity tools, business

applications, and conferencing.

Voice and text were just the tip of theiceberg, says Puopolo. Smartphones

now offer location awareness, multimedia,

translation, bar code scanning, and so

much more. From inventory and trouble

ticket management to customer care and

one-to-one marketing, the possibilities

are limitless.

As mobile and cloud technologies continueto collide, Cisco IBSG is ready to help SPs

understand the markets, services, and

strategic models that create differentiation

and maximize revenue. Cisco also has a

host of foundational solutions that enable

businesses of all types and sizes to

capitalize on the mobile cloud.

More information

Download a white paper and attend

a webcast to learn more about the

study results at: www.UnleashingIT.com

More than 50% of Cisco IBSG

survey respondents are currently

accessing web-based email,updating their social networks, and

shopping from their mobile devices.2

20% of respondents are already

utilizing advanced cloud services

such as web conferencing, content

sharing, and online storage.2

70% of all mobile users expect to

consume cloud-delivered services

in the next one to two years.3

By the numbers:
http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.unleashingit.com/


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Unleashing IT6

Accelerating innovationin the cloudA recent report from the CLOUD2 Commission

reveals new opportunities for government agencies

and commercial enterprises to innovate.

Perspectives and Solution

Innovation is risky. Its costly. And it takes time.

But what if it was less risky, less costly, and less time consuming?

What could be achieved? And who would achieve it? We may

soon find the answers, thanks to the evolution and ongoing

proliferation of cloud technologies.

Cloud computing has ushered in vast improvements in the cost,

agility, and efficiency of computing. These benefits alone drive a

strong business case, reports the Commission on the Leadership

Opportunity in U.S. Deployment of the Cloud (CLOUD2). However,

the more compelling return is the opportunity to leap forward; to

discover new markets and improve how we interact with, serve, and

support U.S. citizens, users, and other nations. The cloud holds the

potential to unlock widespread entrepreneurism of all shapes andsizes, and expand the scope to do entirely new things.

Comprised of representatives from 71 companies and

organizations, the CLOUD2 Commission sought to generate

recommendations for accelerating cloud adoption in the U.S.

government and commercial markets. The resulting reportCloud

First, Cloud Fast: Recommendations for Innovation, Leadership,

and Job Creation1reflects the strategic imperative to fully

embrace and capitalize on the power of cloud computing.

While the cloud sometimes raises questions and concerns about

trust, transnational data flows, transparency, and transformation,

the CLOUD2 Commission found tremendous opportunities forcompanies and government agencies, says Wyatt Starnes, Vice

President of Advanced Concepts at Harris Corporation. Once

they get past the challenges and fears associated with cloud

adoption, the U.S. government can become more effective and

U.S. businesses can be more competitive.

As a member of the CLOUD2 Commission, Starnes was

instrumental in developing the Cloud First, Cloud Fastreport.

The recommendations found within were born, in part, from

Starnes decades of experience as a cloud innovator and Harris

extensive work building a Trusted Enterprise Cloud offering forgovernment agencies and commercial enterprises.

Innovation isnt just the next great product, says Starnes. It

involves new business models; new ways of going to market;

new ways of partnering with other organizations; and new ways

to engage with customers. The cloud enables these things to be

explored and realized faster, and with less cost.

The natural reflex in the business world has been to avoid going

overboard with innovation, since it means sinking considerable

time and resources into ideas that dont get off the ground,

writes Joe McKendrick, an author and independent researcher

who recently reported on a London School of Economics surveyabout the emerging role of cloud computing.2

However, cloud computing technology may be clearing the way

to turn formerly hidebound businesses into innovation factories,

McKendrick concludes. Thats because it now offers a low-cost

way to try and fail with new ideas. In essence, the price of failure

has suddenly dropped through the floor.

Failure has become an option.

More information

Harris Corporation, a member of the CLOUD2 Commission,

engineered Trusted Enterprise Cloud, a patented service

for critical applications and business processes. For more

information, visit: www.cyber.harris.com

To request a proof-of-concept, contact your VMware or Cisco

Account Representative, Channel Partner, or call 1-800-553-

6387 and select option 1. For more information on Cisco and

VMware cloud solutions, visit: www.UnleashingIT.com

Wyatt Starnes, cloud innovator and

technology consultant
http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.cyber.harris.com/http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.cyber.harris.com/


7/16

Experienc


Cisco proves thepower of the cloud

Unafraid to put its moneywhere its mouth is, Ciscoshows how the cloud canhelp IT support businessagility through self-serviceand automated provisioning.

Show me. Dont tell me. In a confusing

and jargon-filled cloud market, proving the

cloud works means more than big promises

of potential. Thats one reason why Cisco

implemented Cisco IT Elastic Infrastructure

Services (CITEIS), its own internal cloud.And the lessons learned along the way are

going to help organizations as they adopt

cloud-based service delivery.

We wanted to create an infrastructure with an

agile face that can be provisioned quickly and

can drive costs down through automation,

says John Manville, VP IT, Network and Data

Center Services, Cisco. It was important for

us to prove to ourselves the extended benefit

of developing and using a cloud in addition to

virtualization. Clearly, virtualization plays a critical

role in our five-year data center strategy, butCITEIS takes it one step further, expanding

time and cost savings as well as fueling greater

agility in how the business consumes IT.

CITEIS combines an impressive suite of

capabilities from the Cisco CloudVerseframework for cloud delivery. This includes

the Cisco Unified Computing SystemTM

(UCS) and Cisco Nexus 7000 switches

on the hardware front; with Ciscos Unified

Management (Cisco Intelligent Automation f

Cloud, Cisco UCSTM Manager), Cisco Nexus

1000v, rPath, and Ciscos Virtual Security

Gateway on the software front. Currently,

VMware is also an important partner in the

CITEIS implementation, with Cisco leveragin

VMware vSphereTM virtualization and VMwar

vCloudTM Director.

Life before CITEIS

Prior to the CITEIS implementation,

provisioning IT meant a high-engagement

model with project managers and applicatio

teams. In a purely physical environment,

timeframes were anywhere from six to eight

weeks. With virtualization, the pace sped up

taking approximately two to three weeks, bu

still remaining a largely manual process.

With CITEIS, provisioning is automated entire

eliminating the high-touch engagement. Anthe benefits are already becoming clear. Cis

has realized an average decrease in quarter

costs of each operating system instance fro

$3700 to $1200 by using virtualization and


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Unleashing IT8

cloud. In addition, the time to deliver virtual

machines has been reduced from weeks to

15 minutes.

We have changed the way that IT and the

business interact by positioning IT as a service

provider in an enterprise environment, says

Brian Cinque, a Solutions Architect with

Cisco. Historically, for example, the business

came to IT and requested half of a datacenter based on growth forecasts. And IT

couldnt really dispute the request. Now, we

have six standardized, chargeback service

offerings that business users can consume.

The business group becomes responsible for

capacity planning and management, which

creates a tighter link between costs, demand,

and actual usage.

The operational journey

Technology change wasnt the only aspect

driving Cisco ITs services evolution. Processand cultural shifts were also required to

support the architectural strategy. Four years

ago, Cisco IT was structured traditionally,

with silos for network, storage, and compute.

But that model was marginally effective

in a virtual world. Cisco reorganized the

infrastructure team into a lifecycle model,

which included design, architecture,

implementation, and service delivery/

operations teams.

With this lifecycle structure, Cisco can

design, manage, and implement at a

systems level, which naturally includes the

traditionally siloed elements of network,

compute, storage, software development,

and integration. Without the silos, the teamcan look at cloud from many different

technology perspectives, leading to quicker

issue resolution and clear accountability.

Operations are more streamlined from

a service management perspective as

well. We now have a service owner for

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)who

oversees operational issues, feature priorities

and additions, and stabilitysupported by a

virtual team, says Manville. The business

requests a compute service with specific

characteristics, not a server of a given size.We can satisfy the majority of the requests

through our standardized service catalog.

And we know that the business units are

happy with the cost and agility benefits

because they are asking us to expand the

set of standard use cases to include more

readily-consumable middleware features.

The business group becomes responsible for capacityplanning and management, which creates a tighter linkbetween costs, demand, and actual usage.Brian Cinque, Solutions Architect, Cisco

In the ongoing debate over public versus privat

cloud models, two questions prevail:

1. Which is more expensive? 2. Which approach is best?

The cost differences between public and privat

cloud can be a lightning rod with wildly varying

opinions, says Vinay Nichani, Unified ComputingSystem (UCS) Regional Manager for Cisco.

Lets set the record straight. Public clouds are

far cheaper at first glance, but there are hidden

expenses, particularly around I/O and storage,

that have to be considered. In fact, independent

research shows that public clouds cost 12.5

cents per ECU [Elastic Compute Unit] hour on

average, while private clouds cost 1.3 cents per

ECU hour on average.

So a private cloud is always the right choice?

Not necessarily, Nichani warns. It really depend

on the company and its computing needs. It

doesnt make sense to invest in a private cloud ifyoure only going to use it sporadically.

Think of it this way, he adds. If you need a ca

every day, buy one. But if you only need a car

once in a while, its probably better to rent.

Visit www.UnleashingIT.com for a three-part video

whiteboard discussion on private and public cloud

options, interoperability, and economics.

Public or private cloud: Which is best?
http://www.unleashingit.com/http://www.unleashingit.com/


9/16


Enabling smart services

Cisco smart services use automated,

software-enabled capabilities to collect

network diagnostic data regularly and compare

it against a comprehensive knowledge base,

providing the visibility required to identify issues

proactively, simplify and automate ongoing

operations, and support network evolution.

CITEIS is integral to delivering the scalability,redundancy, and availability needed to offer

smart services on a global scale.

If we had wanted to do a two-day proof-of-

concept in the traditional IT model, it would

have taken 12 weeks to access the IT services

and infrastructure, says Craig Huegen, Senior

Director, Connected IT Services Architecture,

Cisco. Now we can get the virtual machine in a

matter of minutes and operate the test without

the complex underlying process. With CITEIS,

we get flexible configuration, instantaneous

provisioning, and a service approach, whichaccelerates our delivery and growth.

Recently, Cisco Services released the Services

Foundation Application Environment, a dynamic

application fabric that sits on top of CITEIS.

Now, the Cisco Services team can access

its application development and execution

environment as standardized cloud components,

further speeding time to deployment.

The faster that we can execute on proof-of-

concepts or leverage scale to grow our smart

services organically, the faster our clients are

going to gain visibility into and intelligence

about their networks to improve performance,

says Vijay Ponukumati, Senior Director of IT,

Cisco Services. With CITEIS as our back-endinfrastructure, we can speed time to market

while driving a higher level of consistency in

solution delivery.

The future

The CITEIS architectural strategy was built

to allow Cisco to connect further up the

application stack. The vision is to expand the

service catalog by adding more middleware

and database standard components to address

a broader range of business use cases.

In addition to vertical growth, CITEIS will

fulfill a bigger set of horizontal infrastructure

requirements to satisfy requests from

application teams. These capabilities include

integrated change management, workload

elasticity, service assurance, and support for

different vApps.

We will use the same management

technique to provisioning services jointly

with hardware, says Manville. With that

capability, our internal private cloud will act

like a provider-based cloud service. We

will have the power to provision a service

where it meets the best combination of

cost, service level, risk, and timing for our

business needs, regardless of whether its a

application hosted on our private cloud or asoftware-as-a-service delivery. With growt

up the stack and horizontal expansion acros

infrastructure requirements, we will enable

and the business to make a smart, strategic

and cost-effective choice every time.

More information

To discuss this solution, contact

your VMware or Cisco Account

Representative, Channel Partner, or call

1-800-553-6387, select option 1.

For more information on the Cisco

CloudVerse framework for cloud delivery

and the products that enable Cisco

CITEIS, visit: www.UnleashingIT.com


10/16

Unleashing IT10

Experience

How Miamis ForamGroup developed one ofthe most technologically

advanced, cloud-enabled office buildingsin the world.

We set out to develop one of the most

connected, technologically advanced

office buildings in the world, says

Loretta Cockrum, CEO of Foram Group,

a real estate portfolio and management

company. And we succeeded.

Every office building comes with threestandard utilities: water, electricity, and

heat/air. Rarely has a fourth utility been

provided for tenants, until now. In providing

information and communication technology

(ICT) as a move-in ready utility, Miamis 600

Brickell office tower will forever change the

way buildings are imagined and designed.

When a company moves into an office

building, they have to figure everything

out for themselves, explains Cockrum.

They have to build or link to a data

center, tap into voice and data services

from local carriers, and hire IT personneto set up their desktop and network

systems. This takes t ime, money, and

effort that are typically outside the scop

of their normal business competencies

and goals.

We wanted to relieve our tenants of thes

problems, she continues. They should

never have to worry about computing or

connectivity, from the moment they get

their keys and every day thereafter.

It wasnt enough to offer a fixed or

predetermined set of ICT services. Foram

Group sought to provide an infrastructure

with virtually unlimited flexibility and

scalability, into which tenants can plug

for any and all computing capabilities,

services, and connections.

Welcome to the future ofutilitarian business computing

The fourth utility: Loretta Cockrum and Allen Firoenvisioned and developed a building of the future
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Attracting multi-national

tenantsMiamis financial district offered an auspicious

locale for 600 Brickell. Often called the

Gateway to Latin America, Miami also

features Terremarks NAP of the Americas. A

massive, carrier-neutral telecommunications

hub and data center, the NAP [Network

Access Point] was designed specifically to link

Latin America to North America and extend

connectivity to the rest of the world.

We want to attract multi-national

companies that are expanding theiroperations into the U.S. and around the

world, says Cockrum. With redundant

fiber optic connections to the NAP, our

tenants have unsurpassed connectivity

options. For example, if a Brazilian company

wants to use Brasil Telecom and link directly

to their carrier and data center back home,

they can. If a German company wants to

use Deutsche Telekom, no problem.

These choices also come with dedicated,

24x7 service and support. In addition to

an on-site data center, network operations

center, and conferencing center, 600

Brickell has a full-service ICT organization

in the building. Whatever a tenant may

needfrom additional bandwidth to cloud-

based systems to high-definition video

conferencingis merely a phone call away.

We spent a lot of time considering

everything a tenant might need fromcomputing and connectivity standpoints,

both now and well into the future, says

Allen Firouz, CEO of Venturian Group, the

IT consulting and solutions architecture firm

that helped envision, design, and build the

computing infrastructure for 600 Brickell.

The on-site infrastructure and services are

designed to meet just about any IT need

immediately, simply, and cost effectively.

Tapping into the cloud

According to Firouz, the cloud proved to bea key enabler of Foram Groups ICT vision.

As a medium for accessing ever-changing

computing services, it helps deliver on the

promise of a future-proofed utility.

There have traditionally been three barriers

to the cloud: redundancy, scalability, and

security, Firouz explains. We actively

addressed each of these issues in the

buildings ICT architecture. With secure,

redundant fiber connections to carriers and

cloud service providers, 600 Brickell will be

as technologically relevant in 10 to 20 yearsas it is now, if not more.

600 Brickell is the first building in the world

to be ISO 27001 certified, representing the

pinnacle of information security. With the

Cisco Connected Real Estate framework

and a host of Cisco infrastructure solutions

throughout the building, tenants can

scale from T1 connectivity to 400 Gbpsat a moments notice. And they can tap

virtually any cloud service, from Venturian

VMware-based services to hosting

services from any preferred provider.

Both Cockrum and Firouz indicate Cisco

solutions were clearly the best choice for 60

Brickell. Designed for seamless performanc

upgrades and featuring a fully integrated sui

of products for switching, routing, optical

networking, and Wi-Fi, the buildings all-Cis

infrastructure is built to stand the test of time

We cant predict the future, but we can

make strides to ensure adaptability, says

Firouz. To our knowledge, 600 Brickell

is the first office building in the world that

offers this level of connectivity, flexibility,

and capability. But it wont be the last.

Proof-of-concept

To request a proof-of-concept,

contact your VMware or Cisco Account

Representative, Channel Partner, or cal

1-800-553-6387 and select option 1.

For more information on the Cisco

Connected Real Estate framework and

infrastructure solutions, visit

www.UnleashingIT.com

A two-pronged approach: Firouz removed

technical barriers, while Cockrum focused on

tenant opportunities.
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Unleashing IT12

Despite decades of technological

advancement, the tug-of-war continues

between business and IT teams. Business

groups submit an ongoing stream of

technology requests. IT teams, invariably

swamped with a multitude of tasks,

struggle to keep up while trying to maintain

control over budgets and resources.

Like their IT counterparts, business

groups want to control costs and be

efficient with their technology usage,

says Tom Grahek, Vice President of IT

at FICO, a leading provider of decision

management and predictive analytics

software. But they dont always have

visibility of their IT consumption, costs,

and available resources.

Without this visibility, business teams are

handcuffed, unable to fully understand and

effectively alter their IT environments. As a

result, they remain incapable of satisfying

their changing needs.

An IT organization can continually tell their

internal customers what time it is, Grahek

says. Or they can build a watch and show

business groups how to use it.

FICO is in the process of building a watch. In

creating a private cloud with self-service IT

resources, the company is putting the power

of technology management into the palms of

business users. Instead of the request-and-

wait approach, FICO business teams will soon

be able to provision compute, networking, and

storage environmentsquickly and without

hand-holding from IT personnel.

With a backlog of requests, a disparate

mix of management tools, and a host

of manual processes, our IT team

was overloaded, Grahek explains.

By implementing a private cloud and

automating routine tasks, we can give our

business groups the ability to provision and

manage their own technology resources.

Based on the Cisco Unified Computing

SystemTM (UCS) and VMware vCloudTM

Director, FICOs private cloud will offer a

common set of management tools and a

comprehensive service catalog. Insteadof taking weeks or months to set up a

new virtual machine or test environment,

it will take hours or days, and can be done

without IT intervention. The companys

geographically diverse business and

development teams will become more

productive and self-sufficient, quickly

bringing new products, features, and

services to market.

While some may perceive risk in giving u

control of IT resources and processesan

others might fear obsolescenceGrahek

sees opportunity when IT teams forego th

traditional tug-of-war and hand the rope

their business counterparts.

Business teams, whether they realize it or

not, have a choice of where they get their

technology, Grahek explains. If we can

empower them and demonstrate value back

to the business, we all become more effecti

and integral to the companys success.

Proof-of-concept

To request a proof-of-concept,

contact your VMware or Cisco

Account Representative, ChannelPartner, or call 1-800-553-6387 and

select option 1. For more information

on the Cisco Unified Computing

System, visit: www.UnleashingIT.com

Handing IT managementto business users

Experiences

Tom Grahek, technology

guru and business enabler


13/16


Enabling clinicians to move withthe pace of care

St Georges HealthcareNHS Trust leveragedthe Cisco NetworkArchitecture Blueprintfor the U.K.s NationalHealth Service, whichenables informationand communicationstechnology (ICT) tosupport business andclinical priorities.

When clinicians start voicing their

frustration about wasting time in getting

priority information, IT takes it seriously.

That was precisely the case at St

Georges Healthcare NHS Trust, one

of the largest healthcare providers in

Southwest London, which provides

a wide range of acute, community,

and tertiary clinical services to both

a local and national population. TheTrusts main campus, St Georges

Hospital, is co-located with St Georges

University of London medical school and

research center.

For voice communication, the hospital

and university were sharing a traditional

PBX system. Limitations abounded. Each

person had an extension number, but

available numbers were reaching capacity

for its allowable range. Mobility and

resilience were also issues. Business use

were cabled physically to numbers, sothey couldnt roam or indicate availability

colleagues through presence features.

Our primary goal was to improve clinicia

mobility and the availability of informatio

Experienc


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Unleashing IT14

says Kerman Jasavala, Assistant Director

of IT, St Georges Healthcare NHS

Trust. Right now, clinicians carry many

different devices, which is a personal

inconvenience and can be an obstacle to

effective communication. We also wanted

to improve our IT efficiency, agility, andspend. From an IT perspective, moves,

adds, and changes for physical switches

and cables became a time consuming and

expensive proposition.

Starting with the network

Upon attending a workshop at the

Cisco Executive Briefing Center, the

St Georges IT team received expert

guidance on modernizing its voice

capabilities for improved resilience and

cost reduction. Cisco recommended

a single unified communications (UC)

system between the hospital and the

university. But to realize the potential

of UC, the network needed to be

strengthened.

St Georges is a perfect example of

why we created the Cisco Network

Architecture Blueprint for NHS Trusts,

says Terry Robinson, U.K. Health Sector

Manager, Cisco. Our vision behind that

blueprint is to advocate an architectural

approach that links ICT investmentwith business and clinical priorities

directly. Business-led NHS ICT can play

an integral role in delivering greater

productivity while also supporting new

channels of care.

To begin its UC journey, St Georges

implemented the Cisco Nexus product

line as the foundation of its new network

operating core. With the Cisco Nexus

7000s, virtualization, and aggregation of

server networks and external services,

the Trust gained the flexibility to improvenetwork resiliency required for UC. With

that phase completed, St Georges

installed and rolled out the Cisco Unified

Computing SystemTM (UCS), which

consolidated its virtual server environment

from six hosts down to two and readied

the environment for Cisco Unified

Communications Managers.

Running UC on Cisco UCSTM is a distinct

advantage for us because we get direct

integration into the network core, says

Sam Pearson, Head of IT Networks andCommunications, St Georges Healthcare

NHS Trust. With that, we can experience

better bandwidth consumption, performanc

functionality, and speed across the internal

network. And the network hardware is muc

easier to manage.

With the investment in Cisco networking

Cisco UCS also became a strategic

option for St Georges server and

desktop virtualization. St Georges is

the first London hospital investing in

VMwares next-generation virtualizationsolution with its pilot of VMware View

for desktop virtualization software. This

is in addition to its mature VMware ESX

virtualization platform, which supports

more than 55 percent of the Trusts

server estate.


15/16


To build on that, St Georges is also

trialing virtual desktop infrastructure

(VDI), with a focus on enabling session

persistence in clinical areas, says Justin

Beardsmore, Head of IT Infrastructure,

St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust. With

those capabilities, combined with the newUC system, clinicians will gain access to

both their desktops and phone numbers

while roaming between clinics, wards, and

hospitals. The main goal is to try to give

people the option to use the end device of

their choice.

Industry demands for agility

Clinician frustration wasnt the only

factor exerting pressure for change and

modernization. The next five years will

be a very challenging time for

NHS organizations. They must find

strategic ways to respond to the

Coalition Governments reform and

reconfiguration plans, continue to

innovate in delivering patient-centric

care, and operate in an environment

bound by strict austerity measures.

To address cost savings requirements,

the NHS has established the Quality,

Innovation, Productivity, and Prevention

(QIPP) program, which aims to save

20 billion during the next five years.The focus is on reinvestment in patient-

centric initiatives to meet the increasing

demand for health and care services.

All NHS organizations are under

pressure, and mergers and/or service

reconfigurations are quite commonplace,

says Jasavala. We have to make

ourselves as agile as possible to respond

effectively to the changes by extending

and integrating with other organizations.

The focus is on providing more services,

increased flexibly, at less cost.

The UC implementation is one way

St Georges is responding to the agility

demands. Currently, 200 people across the

Trust are trialing the new system to gauge

the user experience. The functionality is

greatly improved with extension mobility,

Microsoft Office integration, and virtual

desktop integration.

One phone solution is much easier to

manage, says Pearson. Our engineers

are not cabling node to node and donthave to deal with moving ports, configuring

connections, and standing up phones.

Our focus is on providing a more effective

service for the same cost. With this UC

system, our IT team will be more efficient

and cost effective, and our clinicians will be

able to move at the pace of care.

More information

Visit www.UnleashingIT.com for more

information on unified communicationsand virtual desktop infrastructure

solutions. To discuss this solution,

contact your VMware or Cisco Account

Representative, Channel Partner, or call

1-800-553-6387 and select option 1.

Our focus is on providing a more effective service for thesame cost. With this UC system, our IT team will be moreefficient and cost effective, and our clinicians will be able tomove at the pace of care.Sam Pearson, Head of IT Networks and Communications, St Georges Healthcare NHS Tru
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Documents

Unleashing IT, Winter 2012