SOMERS, N.Y. and RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., January 12, 2000 -- IBM and Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced that they are working together to provide customers with a highly available and scalable technology foundation for e-business solutions.
The latest in a series of Cisco and IBM announcements, this initiative outlines the development and testing of e-business products. Using IBM S/390 servers, IBM Host Integration software and Cisco's network systems, the companies will work to make available advanced e-business solutions that can both drive and support the growth of high-volume Internet transactions. IBM S/390 and Cisco also will identify other standards-based technologies to enhance S/390 and Cisco's advanced IP infrastructures with additional testing.
"As companies build the infrastructure for an Internet ecosystem, they find that they need scalable, available and secure systems to harness the power of the Internet," said Selby Wellman, senior vice president, Cisco Systems. "Cisco's world-class networking products and IBM's powerful S/390 servers provide customers with the assurance and confidence they need."
The growth and seemingly unlimited demands of e-business call for seamlessly integrated networks that can be rapidly deployed to meet business needs. IBM and Cisco will work together to create and deliver high-performance e-business solutions for their customers.
"The rapid growth of e-business is pushing IT and networking infrastructures to new levels," said Ross Mauri, vice president of IBM's S/390 Division. "Through this important initiative we are working together with the goal of ensuring that our customers can effortlessly scale these heights with industry-leading performance."
The development and testing of the IBM and Cisco products will yield e-business solutions that reduce infrastructure complexity and speed deployment. One set of functions will produce an unmatched ability to provide Quality of Service in mixed traffic environments. IBM S/390 traffic prioritization coupled with Cisco priority enforcement within the IP network will help ensure that users can receive more predictable response times. Another set of functions will highlight the unique coupling of S/390 Parallel Sysplex clustering technology with Cisco intelligent workload balancing to provide almost unlimited e-business transaction availability and scalability.
As part of this announcement, IBM Global Services also will enhance its portfolio of Networking Service offerings to assist customers in the deployment of these solutions.Editor's note: IBM news releases and fact sheets are available on the World Wide Web at www.ibm.com. S/390 news releases and fact sheets also are available on www.ibm.com/servers and www.s390.ibm.com. IBM Host Integration news releases and fact sheets are available on www.ibm.com/software/network.
