News Release

Cisco Systems at Storage Networking World Orlando 2003

WHERE: JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes (Orlando, Fla.)CISCO
cisco_building_corporate_002-jpg-1889882-1-0
Oct 27, 2003

WHERE: JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes (Orlando, Fla.)CISCO BOOTH #: P3

WHEN: Oct. 27 through 30

WHAT: Cisco Systems, Inc. is a platinum sponsor of Storage Networking World, Computerworld's semi-annual tradeshow and conference, and will be represented through various activities. A summary of those activities is as follows:

Cisco Speakers:
  • Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 1:30 pm: Lance Perry, vice president of IT infrastructure, will present an end-user case study of the Cisco IT organization's enterprise-wide storage area networking (SAN) strategy and implementation using the Cisco MDS 9000 Family of Multilayer Intelligent directors and fabric switches.
  • Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 3:45 pm: Tom Edsall, CTO for the Storage Business Unit, will participate in a panel discussion titled "Virtualization - What Makes Sense for My Company?"
Technology and Product Demonstrations in Cisco's Booth (#P3)
  • A multi-vendor proof-of-concept demo showing open, standard-based approaches to providing enhanced security and manageability for storage infrastructures. Specifically, Cisco, Emulex, Microsoft, and QLogic will stage an end-to-end, interoperable solution showing:
    • Fibre Channel Security Protocol (FC-SP) functionality for switch-to-switch and server-to-switch authentication utilizing technologies such as DH-CHAP and Microsoft RADIUS server authentication.
    • Fabric Device Management Interface (FDMI) functionality, which provides a mechanism for centralized asset and inventory management of HBAs from the fabric and eliminates the need for proprietary per-server agents.
  • A Cisco and Emulex demo of 10 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) Fibre Channel technology featuring Emulex host bus adapters (HBAs) and the Cisco MDS 9000 SAN switches. As the demo will show, 10 Gbps Fibre Channel connectivity will be important for applications such high-speed inter-switch links (ISLs), as companies build or consolidate smaller SAN "islands" into larger fabrics.
  • Two implementations of network-hosted storage applications on the Cisco MDS 9000 SAN switches including jointly developed products with IBM and VERITAS, which will show the operational and functional benefits of running storage applications such as volume management, data replication, and point-in-time snapshots directly in the SAN fabric.
Participation in Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Demos
  • Interoperability demo showing the industry's progress on the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S), the goal of which is to deliver standardized, multi-vendor SAN management capabilities. Cisco will showcase its first SMI-S compliant product for the Cisco MDS 9000.
  • A SNIA Supported Solutions Forum (SSF) demo showing multiple ways to deploy virtualization technologies across a storage infrastructure. Cisco will showcase network-hosted virtualization capabilities through solutions jointly developed with industry-leading storage software vendors such as IBM and VERITAS including the IBM TotalStorage® SAN Volume Controller for the Cisco MDS 9000.
  • Another SSF demo showing heterogeneous deployment of Fibre Channel-to-IP storage connectivity, which gives IT administrators the ability to expand the reach and utility of their SANs using existing storage infrastructures. Cisco will showcase a variety of Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and FCIP-compatible products including the Cisco MDS 9000 and the IP Storage Services Module.
  • An emerging technology interoperability demo featuring cutting-edge storage interconnect options. Technologies in this demo include blade servers, DAFS, Infiniband, Fibre Channel and iSCSI. Cisco will showcase its iSCSI "Network Boot" capability, which allows users to administrate numbers of servers remotely from a single access point (typically a storage subsystem).