UCS E-Series and StorMagic’s Citrix Ready Cloud Connector simplify edge-based virtual desktops
For customers with multiple branch locations, finding space for IT equipment, managing distributed HW and edge applications, and ensuring 24/7 support for their distributed network is challenging. Additionally, network resiliency and application uptime become extremely significant, given that these branches and edge applications typically generate revenue for the business.
In order to solve these challenges, Cisco, StorMagic, and Citrix worked together to provide networking, compute, and storage in a 2U form-factor, offering the simplicity and resiliency of StorMagic’s SvSAN, the market-leading desktop virtualization of Citrix with the power and flexibility of Citrix Cloud Services, and the high-quality, high-performance, and world-class support you expect from Cisco.
Organizations often turn to desktop virtualization as part of their branch office deployment strategy and find they need to deploy these virtual desktops locally at the edge instead of the data center for reason, such as
- Low bandwidth and/or high latency networks not able to deliver a rich enough user experience from the data center or cloud
- Unreliable networks with minimal redundancy creating a risk of users losing access to their desktops
- Governance/compliance rules dictating the need for user data and desktops to be stored and accessed locally
- Line of business applications that generate significant data accessed locally and not easily able to be replicated back to the data center
Don’t let the small form-factor fool you – this solution has the power and features you need
The solution consists of three separate parts, which I will cover briefly below.
The Cisco Platform – The 4000 Series Integrated Services Router (ISR 4000) and UCS E-Series Server blade
- Market-leading SD-WAN, security, and other networking features with a chassis providing up to 4 Gbps in throughput
- Up-to 12 cores of compute, 128 GBs of RAM, and 16 TBs of SSD for compute and storage; centralized server management with multiple hypervisor support
- Only one support contract to manage; only one phone number to call for your hardware issue
The Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Solution – Citrix Workspace Appliance
- Rapid desktop deployment, including updates, patches, and security enhancements
- Overall cost savings in desktop support, a centralized approach to client OS management, and reduced client machine energy consumption
- Centralized cloud management and reporting through a single administrator console
The StorMagic solutions – SvSAN and Citrix Ready Cloud Connector
- Simple and lightweight two-node architecture perfect for obtaining high availability at a reasonable price point
- Predictive Storage Caching and data encryption that meet the performance and security requirements of Citrix workloads
- Enables easy deployment of Citrix workloads to the edge so that business-critical applications are always available to branch users, regardless of the status of the WAN
There is much more to say about the benefits of Cisco and StorMagic’s joint solution. To learn more come find us Citrix Synergy! Visit Cisco in booth #306 and StorMagic in booth #503 to learn more about Enterprise Networking products from Cisco and StorMagic’s Cloud Connector.
And make sure you check out our other resources!
If you need even more information, please call to talk to a Cisco expert at 1-800-553-6387.
