EMC, Cisco Systems and Oracle have announced an alliance to simplify the implementation of networks that use e-business technology from the three companies.
The companies have established a joint development centre from which technical configuration blueprints of the companies' technologies, as they work together, will be available, the companies said on a conference call. EMC, Cisco and Oracle have many customers in common, and the blueprints will help those customers build their networks, the companies said. The blueprints will make available information that was previously only available on a custom basis, by contacting each company individually, they said.
"This alliance is about eliminating risk for our customers," said Roy Sanford, vice president of enterprise alliances at EMC. "The blueprint will speed the deployment of Internet infrastructure."
The first blueprint, called The Resilient ECOstructure, is available immediately, the companies said. It defines best practices and reference configurations for the implementation, operation and support of a complete networking, storage and software system and can be found at http://www.eecostructure.com/, they said.
Some of the products included in the alliance are Cisco's Calayst LAN switches and Distributed Director and Oracle's Parallel Server, the companies said. However, the blueprints are specifically designed to provide technical information even if customers choose servers from other companies, according to Mike Rocha, senior vice president of the platform technologies division at Oracle.
The companies' separate sales forces will use the blueprints for assessment and implementation of customers' networks, as will professional services firm KPMG LLP, according to the companies.
For Oracle, the alliance affords an opportunity to boost a specific line of business, according to Rocha. Approximately 25 percent of Oracle customers use Oracle Parallel server, and the alliance "is an opportunity to drive that number up significantly," Rocha said. "These are some of our most complicated and robust implementations and we're looking to increase that part of our business."
In separate news, Cisco Chief Technology Officer Judith Estrin will leave the company April 28 to create a new technology company, according to Abby Smith, a Cisco spokeswoman. Cisco has named Mike Volpi chief strategy officer, a new position which will encompass many of the CTO duties as well as the business development efforts Volpi managed in his previous role at Cisco, Smith said. The company has not yet decided whether it will appoint another CTO, she said.