Cisco sheds light on new server plans

Cisco is to release a line of rack-based systems and extension appliances in the coming months

Cisco has revealed further details of its upcoming line of server systems, announcing on Friday that its new Unified Computing blade-mount servers will be joined by a line of rack-based systems and extension appliances in the coming months.

The three rack-mount servers will ship from November, ranging from a $2,589 (£1,640) model to an extended $10,339 (£6,560) system. All three will be offered under the banner of the UCS C-Series.

Cisco hopes that the addition of the rack-mount systems will help extend the reach of the Unified Computing platform. The company unveiled the programme in April in an effort to combine network and storage management with server virtualisation technologies.

"The Cisco UCS C-Series provides a cost-effective entry point and a clear migration path to unified computing for our customers," said Prem Jain, senior vice president of server access and virtualisation at Cisco.

"This rack mount server form factor also opens the unified computing opportunity to a broader range of our channel partner community."

Meanwhile, the blade-based UCS B-Series server will be accompanied by a memory extension unit set to be released this month, and an interface card for additional Ethernet connections slated for December.

Additionally, Cisco said that the B-Series and C-Series servers would be fully certified for Oracle's RAC and Database software offerings.