NEW YORK and SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 16, 2009 - Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Cisco today introduced four new solutions based on Cisco's next-generation data center platform, the Unified Computing System, that are designed to help large enterprises improve the scalability and reduce the total cost of their information technology architectures.

The Cisco Unified Computing System is an evolutionary data center architecture that unites computing, network, storage access and virtualization resources in a single energy-efficient system. It allows large organizations to migrate their enterprise applications - such as mission-critical ERP applications - from expensive big computers to smaller, simpler, more efficient and cost-effective systems powered by low-cost microprocessors.

The four Accenture and Cisco Unified Computing Solutions cover four main areas: core enterprise applications; data center consolidation; advanced, memory-intensive computing; and infrastructure services. The solutions will be delivered through the Accenture & Cisco Business Group, a cross-company dedicated team focused on helping large enterprises increase business agility by embedding unified computing capabilities into their key business processes.

"The Accenture & Cisco Business Group is uniquely equipped to help clients quickly realize the multiple benefits offered by the Cisco Unified Computing System," said Don Rippert, Accenture's chief technology officer. "Our one-team approach helps ensure that our Unified Computing Solutions are effectively integrated into key business processes and existing operations architectures to make clients more agile, more quickly."

Steve Steinhilber, vice president of Strategic Alliances for Cisco, said, "Accenture understands the importance of an open, innovative, virtualized platform for managing applications across the enterprise. We have worked together to build and deliver new collaborative service offerings that help enterprises enhance application performance and reduce costs."

The solutions announced today focus on four areas:

• Enterprise applications. Unified Computing Solution for ERP addresses the needs of clients who are running core enterprise applications, especially ERP applications like SAP and Oracle. The solution is based on a lower-cost infrastructure with the virtualization capabilities that help enable organizations to easily transition their ERP and other enterprise applications to the new Cisco Unified Computing System. This simple and inexpensive migration helps improve enhanced application performance and easier application management.
• Data center consolidation. The Unified Computing Solution for Data Center Consolidation addresses the needs of companies seeking to virtualize and consolidate their data center operations by providing an IT infrastructure based on a simpler data-center configuration, which helps reduce capital and operational costs.
• Advanced, memory-intensive computing. The Unified Computing Solution for High-Performance Computing addresses the computing-intensive needs of scientific, financial, retail, public-service and industrial organizations running custom, industry-specific, transactional intensive applications. The Cisco Unified Computing System offers extended memory technology and processing power to help clients migrate and run these applications on the new platform at a fraction of the cost.
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service. The Unified Computing Solution for Infrastructure-as-a-Service helps enable organizations to purchase, on an as-needed basis (i.e., during times of peak load), a highly secure, scalable and regulatory-compliant technology infrastructure based on an industry-standard platform. Now service providers can offer highly scalable, enterprise-quality cloud computing - i.e., IT resources provided as a service via the Internet - to customers who want to outsource part of all or their data center operations.

"Accenture has worked intensively with Cisco's Unified Computing System developers over the past year to build a suite of solutions that combine the new technology with our industrialized data center and application migration capabilities," said Accenture's Andre Hughes, who heads up the Accenture & Cisco Business Group. "The Accenture Cisco Unified Computing Solution will help companies migrate their ERP and industry-specific computing applications to the more cost-effective virtualized platform while offering service providers a cost-efficient platform for delivering flexible 'infrastructure-as-a-service' solutions.

Additional Resources:

• For more information on these solutions, visit www.acbg.com
• Video: Don Rippert Remarks on Accenture and Cisco Relationship
• Press release: Cisco Unified Computing System
• Press release: Cisco Open Partner Ecosystem

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With more than 186,000 people serving clients in over 120 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$23.39 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2008. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc.