HOPKINTON, Mass., SAN JOSE, and REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., April 15, 2002 -EMC Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc. and Oracle Corporation, today unveiled the fourth blueprint developed as part of their ECOstructure (EMC/Cisco/Oracle Infrastructure) initiative. The Remote Services blueprint is designed to reduce IT costs and increase productivity through outsourced managed services and secure remote access.
The Remote Services blueprint, the third expansion of the two-year old initiative, enables remote application, database and storage management through a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN). The best practices architecture incorporates Oracle's leading applications, technology and services, storage management software from EMC and Cisco's VPN solutions.
"Doing more with less has become a mantra in corporations around the world as executives try and squeeze the most value out of their IT investments," said Sharon Ward, vice president, enterprise applications, Hurwitz Group. "It's no surprise that people costs are some of the largest expenses associated with those investments. The ECOstructure Remote Services blueprint gives customers a step-by-step guide that helps them do both -- improve productivity and better utilize their staff resources."
The Remote Services blueprint focuses on integrating leading technologies and services from the three companies, and details best practices in design, implementation, operation and support. Its core components include:
- EMC Automated Information Storage (AutoIS) software components that allow a single storage management solution to discover, monitor, provision and report on information resources across a multi-vendor storage area network (SAN) and across multi-vendor servers. In addition, EMC's unique remote diagnostic and maintenance capabilities enable rapid resolution of storage system-related issues.
- Cisco Security and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) solutions enable secure access to corporate resources and the Internet for employees and partners, whether at headquarters or remote locations. The remote management of both Oracle applications and EMC storage systems is enabled through Cisco's Virtual Private Network solutions, based on the Cisco SAFE blueprint. SAFE is a flexible, dynamic blueprint for security and VPN networks that enable businesses to securely and successfully take advantage of e-Business and compete in the Internet economy.
- Oracle E-Business Suite Outsourcing and Oracle Technology Outsourcing, provides software administration, management and maintenance for customers online. By choosing Oracle's "At Customer" or "At Partner" outsourcing deployment options, customers can implement this ECOstructure blueprint with systems hardware located either at their own facility or at a partner location.
The combined solution is further strengthened by several premiere partners, including Broadwing, which supports Oracle's outsourcing strategy.
ECOstructure Development
The Remote Services blueprint builds upon the previous ECOstructure blueprints - Resilient, Recovery and Accelerated - which are designed to maximize availability, provide for disaster protection and infrastructure scalability. Since the introduction of the Resilient high availability blueprint in April 2000, the Recovery business continuance blueprint in October 2000, and the Accelerated networked information blueprint in May 2001, there have been more than 17,000 unique global registrations for the blueprints. Development work on these and other blueprints is underway at both the U.S. and Japan ECOstructure joint architecture centers. The three companies also showcase and demonstrate the ECOstructure blueprints to customers and prospects at Oracle's Enterprise Technology Center in the United Kingdom and Oracle's Advanced Technology Center in Reston, Virginia. Partners are also showcasing the joint efforts, including infrastructure provider and ECOstructure solution provider Bull's European Competence Center in France. Additional demo centers are planned worldwide.ECOstructure Core Technology
The ECOstructure blueprints are based on EMC's Symmetrix and CLARiiON Enterprise Storage systems and software, EMC Connectrix Fibre Channel switches and EMC Celerra Network File Servers; the Cisco 7000 Series routers, Catalyst 6000 family switches, Cisco Content Services Switches, Cisco Content Engines, Cisco PIX firewalls and the Cisco Intrusion Detection System (IDS); and Oracle database technology, Oracle9i Application Server and Oracle outsourcing services. The blueprints support thousands of third-party ISV applications and the Oracle E-Business Suite. ECOstructure is also aligned with Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data).Availability
More information on how to utilize the ECOstructure blueprints as a solution provider and downloadable versions of the Remote Services and other blueprints are available immediately at the jointly managed Web site: http://www.eECOstructure.com.