Cisco targets public and private clouds with CloudVerse platform

Cisco has made a push into the cloud computing space with the launch of CloudVerse, a hardware and services platform which combines Cisco Unified Computing with networking hardware and services.

CloudVerse integrates products from Cisco's Unified Data Center, Cloud Intelligence Network and Cloud Applications and Services lines, and targets applications ranging from public and private clouds to hybrid datacentre computing models.

The company believes that, when combined, the platforms will allow firms to better deploy and manage cloud computing systems and applications.

"Cisco needs to enable our customers to have seamless access to applications and services across the cloud," said Padmasree Warrior, Cisco's senior vice president of engineering and chief technology officer. "You need to have network and compute DNA to be able to drive this."

Cisco expects to see cloud computing explode in the coming years, predicting that more than half of all datacentre workloads will involve cloud platforms by 2014 and that global cloud traffic will reach 1.6 zettabytes by 2015.

The biggest drivers for this growth will be video and collaboration, according to Cisco chief executive John Chambers.

"The future will be all about video. It will be the primary basis for all of IT. This is the major transition going on in all of technology: the importance of the cloud," he said.