IDC investigates the transformation of IT delivery in the datacenter and the emerging role of pretested solutions that focus on unified, shared infrastructure. The paper focuses on the advent of converged infrastructure solutions that simplify the deployment and management of virtualized environments spanning server, storage, and networking components. The paper then takes a closer look at the FlexPod datacenter solution offered by NetApp and Cisco, with a focus on the VMware vSphere design configuration. IDC examines the importance of professional services to delivering the solution and the key role of a collaborative support model aimed at streamlining the support process for customers and channel partners.

1. WHITE P APER
Accelerating Converged Infrastructure with the FlexPod
Datacenter Solution and the Support Alliance
Sponsored by: NetApp
Brad Nisbet Rob Brothers
July 2011
IN THIS WHITE P APER
www.idc.com
IDC investigates the transformation of IT delivery in the datacenter and the emerging
role of pretested solutions that focus on unified, shared infrastructure. The paper
focuses on the advent of converged infrastructure solutions that simplify the
deployment and management of virtualized environments spanning server, storage,
F.508.935.4015
and networking components. The paper then takes a closer look at the FlexPod
datacenter solution offered by NetApp and Cisco, with a focus on the VMware
vSphere design configuration. IDC examines the importance of professional services
to delivering the solution and the key role of a collaborative support model aimed at
streamlining the support process for customers and channel partners.
P.508.872.8200
New Datacenter Challenges
The demands placed on today's IT organizations are accelerating on all fronts, with IT
executives and administrators feeling the pressure to address a variety of challenges
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regarding growth, scalability, and management. From a business perspective,
organizations must consider increasing pressures to:
 Reduce or eliminate capital expenditure
 Streamline and develop more predictable operational expenditure
 Rapidly deploy IT services to increasing numbers of internal and external users,
including a growing base of mobile users
 Comply with regulatory and/or business governance mandates
 Leverage the inherent value of business data through increased, real-time
analytics
From a technological and operational perspective, organizations must consider
increasing pressures to:
 Offer a growing number and variety of applications across a wide range of users
and interoperability levels
 Offer these applications securely with the appropriate permissions to users

2.  Improve asset utilization over an increasingly complex association of networking,
physical and virtual server, and storage infrastructure
 Reduce risk of managing separate compute, storage, and network components,
especially when these components have not previously been tested together
 Reduce and move to more predictable energy consumption for power and
cooling
Developing a Strategy for the Virtualized
Datacenter
The past decade has inspired advancements in technology and solutions that have
enabled enterprise organizations and service providers to begin addressing new
business and operational realities in the datacenter today. Advancements in server
and storage virtualization have opened the doors to greater consolidation, improved
utilization, and reduced capital spending. At the same time, the convergence and
unification of infrastructure components comprising server, storage, and networking is
fueling significant improvement in operational efficiency.
With the acceleration toward cloud-based IT delivery models — whether it is a private
cloud or a public cloud, or a combination of both in a hybrid model — the need to
establish a more efficient approach for deploying and managing IT will span
enterprise organizations and public service providers.
Organizations are now moving from managing traditional silos of infrastructure and
applications to a more efficient and shared infrastructure that allows for a much more
dynamic and flexible response to business needs. As this transformation to a more
flexible IT environment unfolds, a large focus is centered on easing and consolidating
the management points across IT deployments. As we enter the era of converged
infrastructure solutions, enterprise organizations will benefit from pretested solutions
that integrate elements spanning server, storage, networking, and virtualization.
Converged Infrastructure Solutions
Within an enterprise organization, the need to align datacenter IT environments with
rapidly changing business goals is intensifying. Advances in hardware and software
technologies, along with enhancements in professional services, have led to an
increasing awareness and growing adoption of converged infrastructure solutions —
those that incorporate pretested, integrated elements of server, storage, networking,
and virtualization technologies. An effective converged infrastructure solution enables
a single pool of resources and can greatly reduce management complexities and
improve overall IT efficiency.
The following expands on the benefits of a converged infrastructure solution:
 Increase IT responsiveness. By managing efficient pools of IT resources and
layering elements of automation, a converged infrastructure solution enables
service requests to be fulfilled much easier and more rapidly in response to
establishing new and retiring old applications.
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3.  Improve utilization and lower capital spending. Individually, initial investments in
technologies such as server virtualization and efficient, shared storage can
dramatically reduce the number of servers and the storage capacity needed in a
datacenter environment. This reduction in capital spending is further amplified in a
converged infrastructure solution through the power of an efficient, shared storage
solution that is pretested and integrated with virtualized servers and tuned to work
efficiently with specific applications under a common management umbrella.
 Ease management and move to more predictable operational spending. The
common management umbrella, enhanced with automation and multitenancy
enabled by orchestration management software, can greatly reduce the processes
and strains on resources to manage a complex, dynamic IT environment.
 Minimize power and cooling. Improvements in utilization combined with the
benefits of automation capabilities spanning the converged infrastructure
environment that enable a more holistic level of control over resources will help
minimize energy requirements.
 Reduce risk. The risk of IT not being able to support the business goals of an
organization is greatly reduced as the task of maintaining and managing discrete
IT components is inherently more complicated. Simplified and automated
management of a virtualized, converged infrastructure solution affords efficient
and rapid recovery from server or application failure. In addition, the risk
associated with maintaining a converged infrastructure solution is reduced given
the pretested and integrated solutions approach.
The Importance of Professional and Support Services
In addition to the advancements in hardware and software technologies that have enabled
the era of converged infrastructure solutions, professional services will continue to come
to the forefront as enterprise organizations seek to design, build, and manage a highly
efficient, virtualized IT environment. In addition, as part of the ongoing management of the
converged infrastructure solution, an effective support services engagement model will
preserve and enhance the initial value of the deployment over time.
Professional Services
No single box will address all the concerns of an enterprise IT organization. Even with
the advantages of a pretested, integrated set of elements, each organization will need
to consider how an efficient IT environment will best suit its particular business needs.
Organizations will seek partners that are able to leverage best practices and
experience in delivering the professional services needed to identify business
requirements and develop an efficient IT delivery model.
An effective professional services engagement will comprise all or portions of the
following elements:
 Consulting and design. To align IT with the business goals of the organization,
a converged infrastructure deployment must be designed to address the unique
requirements of the organization — taking into consideration size and geographic
characteristics of the organization, along with the nature of applications and
tolerance for risk. In many cases, identifying the business goals of the
organization in the context of the IT environment might be the first step.
©2011 IDC #229575 3

4.  Implementation. To ensure a graceful and efficient transformation to a virtualized
and converged environment, professional services suppliers can ensure the proper
installation and configuration of the infrastructure and applications.
 Management. Depending on the capabilities or expectations of the organization,
services that address a variety of infrastructure management possibilities
can help the organization to address business goals associated with managing
the environment.
In addition to the professional services that span project-based and ongoing managed
services, a strong support relationship with the converged infrastructure suppliers and
partners is essential. An effective and proactive support agreement not only will
reduce the strain on maintaining an efficient environment but also will preserve and
protect the value of the initial investment over time.
Support Services
Enterprise organizations are no longer looking at the deployment of "silo" components;
instead, they are looking at the deployment of an end-to-end, converged infrastructure
environment. When the converged infrastructure solution is running as designed, the
environment can reduce the IT assets and complexity that datacenter managers have to
manage. At the same time, however, both consolidation and reliance on shared
infrastructure have dramatically increased the importance of availability.
In many cases, enterprises assume that because they have virtualized their
datacenter environment and are moving toward automation, they will not need
support for their systems and software. This most certainly is not the case. The
complexity of these configurations can cause even the savviest end users to need
help when things go wrong. Whether it is a hardware issue, a software issue, or a
user error, mission-critical servers, storage systems, networking, and the overlaying
virtualization and automation layer will require external support services.
The method by which enterprise organizations support the virtualized environment will
need to be different from the traditional system support model. Since mission-critical
data will be created and maintained on a shared environment (with fewer servers and
shared storage), when something goes wrong, it can have a broad impact across
many departments in an organization. The ability of organizations to leverage support
teams that have intimate knowledge of their overall converged infrastructure
environment will be crucial as they look for assurance that their problems will be
solved without disruption to their business.
These new datacenter designs require vendors that can support new and legacy
multivendor hardware rather than just one technology asset. As a result, selecting a
support partner that has a robust multivendor support portfolio and one that can look
across all of the assets that are required to support the business process becomes
increasingly critical in a highly virtualized environment. The tools used by the vendor
and partners to support this should be sophisticated and robust. The ability to
monitor, perform system health checks, and have "phone home" capabilities is a must
in today's environment.
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5. To that end, datacenter organizations will increasingly look for partners that can offer
support services for converged infrastructure solutions. The benefits of
comprehensive support services for converged infrastructure solutions include:
 Collaborative support. Support coordinated among vendors provides clarity and
efficiency when an issue arises among any components within the converged
infrastructure solution. The lead services provider initially contacted by the
customer evaluates the customer's concerns and manages the coordination
among all resources to quickly remediate the problem. This approach allows IT
staff to focus on other, more important aspects of managing the business.
 Pretested solutions. The use of pretested solutions affords seamless integration
and compatibility of components and reduces risk when replacing faulty equipment or
upgrading the environment. The steps taken to ensure that all solution components
are compatible lead to less downtime and smaller maintenance windows.
 Trusted advisor. Through a close and ongoing support relationship, the vendor can
leverage intimate knowledge of the unique business, governance, and operational
requirements within the enterprise IT organization. This will enable the vendor to fine-
tune the environment over time by helping to make strategic and informed decisions.
 Reduced cost. Consolidating IT assets helps reduce expenses like power and
cooling and, in large corporations, can help consolidate and eliminate
datacenters. Retiring older systems helps to reduce maintenance costs, as
legacy systems often have a higher price tag for support. A strong support
alliance and an external staff that is trained with the required expertise have the
ability to look at the datacenter in its entirety, helping the customer find ways to
either reduce cost or streamline a process.
These new converged infrastructure environments can be complex to deploy and
support, and most companies do not have the internal expertise to address
converged solutions based on these newer technologies. Engaging with a company
that can gracefully blend its own internal expertise with the expertise of its technology
partners will help an organization to deploy an efficient support model — one that will
reduce costs, minimize strain on existing staff, and maintain the value of the initial
converged infrastructure investment.
The NetApp Approach: VMware vSphere Built
on FlexPod
Given the benefits of consolidating management complexities and increasing
efficiency through a converged infrastructure approach, NetApp, in collaboration with
Cisco and VMware, has invested in an integrated IT datacenter stack called FlexPod.
FlexPod is a pretested datacenter solution built on a flexible, scalable, shared
infrastructure comprising Cisco Unified Computing System servers, the Cisco family
of Nexus switches, and NetApp unified FAS storage systems running Data ONTAP
with FC and FCoE (see Figure 1).
FlexPod core components, which span server, networking, shared storage, and
virtualization, are integrated and standardized to help IT organizations eliminate
guesswork and achieve timely, repeatable, and consistent deployments. FlexPod has
©2011 IDC #229575 5

6. been optimized with a variety of mixed application workloads and design
configurations in various environments such as virtual desktop infrastructure and
secure multitenancy environments.
Among the initial application workloads and designs that NetApp and Cisco have
validated are VMware virtualized environments, Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft
Exchange 2010, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP applications, and Citrix XenDesktop and
secure multitenancy deployments. At the foundation of delivering a solution for
organizations that are evolving to a virtualized datacenter is the underlying integration
between FlexPod infrastructure and VMware virtualization software. The VMware
vSphere built on FlexPod solution was designed to enable a flexible, converged
infrastructure in next-generation virtualized datacenter environments.
FIGURE 1
VMware vSphere Built on FlexPod Core Components
Source: NetApp, 2011
NetApp has been working with Cisco and VMware since 2003 to test and validate
joint solutions. The alliance between the vendors matured into a formal relationship
based on the "Imagine Virtually Anything" partnership established in 2009. VMware
vSphere built on FlexPod integrated datacenter solution is one of the recent solutions
developed between the three vendors. NetApp, Cisco, and VMware have continued
to deepen their alliance partnership with the development of the FlexPod reference
architecture and by establishing a Unified Support Lab that adds high business value
to converged infrastructure solutions. Enterprises not only reap the benefits from a
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7. pretested, unified shared infrastructure but also have access to highly experienced
technical staff should complex technical issues arise.
In addition, NetApp and its partners are fostering an ecosystem of channel partners
that are qualified to design and implement FlexPod solutions among a growing
customer base.
Benefits of VMware vSphere Built on FlexPod
VMware vSphere built on FlexPod provides the following benefits to customers:
 Centralized management of server, storage, networking, and virtualization (The
dramatic increase in management efficiency allows IT administrators to shift from
managing discrete components of IT to managing pools of application and
infrastructure resources.)
 Simultaneous management of up to four different applications, which further
amplifies the reduction in management complexities and the increase in resource
utilization
 Secure multitenancy to securely manage and isolate pools of resources
independently with consistent quality of service (QoS) across each layer with
reduced risk and cost
 Investment protection with the use of NetApp V-Series, affording IT
organizations the flexibility to realize the benefits of the FlexPod architecture
while still preserving investments already made in multivendor (non-NetApp)
storage arrays
 Storage efficiency enabled by NetApp's unified, shared storage architecture and
integrated efficiency features such as NetApp Data Deduplication and NetApp
FlexVol (thin provisioning), along with NetApp's advanced suite of software
features that provide a common framework to control, automate, and analyze the
customer's data
 Variable deployment maturity as the flexible reference architecture allows
customers to deploy at various levels of maturity along the spectrum of
virtualized datacenter and private, public, and hybrid cloud deployments
Professional Services and Support Programs for FlexPod
As highlighted earlier, the importance of professional services moves to the forefront
as customers consider how to deploy a converged infrastructure solution such as
FlexPod. Given the inherent flexibility of the FlexPod datacenter solution, it will benefit
customers to work with a services provider to design and implement a FlexPod
deployment that fits the organization's unique business and operational requirements.
To address customers' professional services needs, NetApp and its alliance partners
Cisco and VMware, under the "Imagine Virtually Anything" program, have continued
to expand their ecosystem of qualified and trained channel services partners that will
deliver the bulk of design and implementation services for FlexPod solutions.
©2011 IDC #229575 7

8. NetApp offers a FlexPod Implementation Service for storage-only components if a
delivery partner wishes to subcontract with NetApp or if a customer wishes to work
with NetApp directly on implementation of the storage components for a FlexPod
datacenter solution.
In addition, in response to addressing the importance of support services, NetApp,
Cisco, and VMware have established a Support Alliance specifically designed to
maximize the value and efficiency of the FlexPod solution among customers and
channel partners.
FlexPod Support Alliance
The partnership between NetApp, Cisco, and VMware allows FlexPod to bring a best-
of-breed approach to a converged infrastructure offering. This partnership also
provides the customer with an enhanced support experience when issues arise. The
three companies have established a Support Alliance (see Figure 2) that provides a
more streamlined response to identify and quickly resolve potential issues related to
FlexPod shared infrastructures. With enterprise organizations strapped for time and
resources, the alliance support model greatly improves efficiency when requesting
product and technology support.
FIGURE 2
Support Alliance Escalation Process for FlexPod
Customer*
Contact vendor suspected
of issue
Problem analysis and
Cisco NetApp VMware resolution process started
Technical Technical Technical immediately
Support Support Support
Assist customer to open
cases with other vendors
If Cross-Vendor Support Escalation Required
Coordinated escalations
Collaborated cross-
Cisco NetApp VMware company engineering and
Support Escalation Support Escalation Support Escalation development efforts
or Engineering or Engineering or Engineering
Vendor engagement and
*Valid customer support contracts with all three companies required
ownership through resolution
Source: NetApp, 2011
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9. Vendors have been working on support case integration for years, and most major IT
vendors, including NetApp, Cisco, and VMware, subscribe to TSANet. But customers
report that they are not satisfied with vendor cooperation and sometimes feel that
issues are handed off from vendor to vendor. This is particularly vexing for issues
related to performance, as it can be a challenge to pinpoint the root causes that
transcend storage, network, servers, and applications. The Support Alliance allows
the vendors to work together and share in the accountability to resolve their issues.
IDC is encouraged to see the vendors making investments in joint support capabilities
and their commitment to customer success. TSANet is a good starting point because
this organization defines vendor-neutral processes and communication protocols, but
it cannot exist just on paper. NetApp, Cisco, and VMware have raised the bar by
investing in joint solution, process, and technical training for their technical support
teams. The companies have strong executive commitment and metrics around
technical services delivery.
Unified Support Lab
NetApp, Cisco, and VMware have invested significant resources to create a Unified
Support Lab facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, for ongoing
development, integration, and qualification of the FlexPod solutions. By designing,
deploying, and using FlexPod architectures, the Support Alliance partners are
demonstrating the expertise needed to provide support services and a means for their
engineers to collaborate on problem resolution.
The Unified Support Lab helps NetApp and its partners to:
 Share IT technical knowledge and expertise designed to streamline the path to
quick and efficient resolution
 Invest in product and engineering expertise
 Establish access to each vendor's support teams at the site or via secure remote
communications
 Recreate a customer's environment and support issue when needed (typically in
the case of escalation)
 Test other manufacturers' equipment that is deployed with or congruent to the
FlexPod solution to help remediate any possible issues before they arise
 Provide a platform to develop and pretest new converged infrastructure solutions
and expand the catalog of FlexPod reference architecture
 Create best practice scenarios for different implementations of the FlexPod
solution, which will decrease time to deploy and improve manageability and
maintenance at the customer's datacenter
In addition to the value the Unified Support Lab currently provides, the lab could also
increasingly serve as a central location for expanded, unified FlexPod support activity
in the future.
©2011 IDC #229575 9

10. Benefits of the Support Alliance for FlexPod
The Support Alliance provided by NetApp and its partners provides customers and
channel services partners with the following benefits:
 Effective and flexible first call. The customer can open a support case with the
vendor where the issue is suspected — NetApp, Cisco, or VMware. Regardless
of which vendor in the Support Alliance takes the first call, issue resolution will
begin immediately and collaboration between vendors, if needed, will be provided
through the alliance support model.
 Seamless handoffs. If the first vendor contacted determines the issue warrants
the assistance of one of the other partners, the first vendor will provide a "warm
handoff" and assist in opening a call with the other vendor on the customer's
behalf. The customer is then released from the call and the resolution begins.
Collaboration for problem resolution is transparent and seamless for the customer.
 Unified Support Lab. If the case requires escalation, the partners have access
to the Unified Support Lab, allowing for a more accurate and facilitated solution
to a customer's problem. In addition, the lab offers a productive environment to
test designs during implementation.
Benefits of NetApp Global Support
When deploying a converged infrastructure environment, working with a shared
storage provider that offers global support services and advanced support tools has
its advantages.
NetApp provides a multivendor solution to its customers through its SupportEdge
Premium offering. Within the context of a storage issue, this provides the customer
with a single point of contact for issue resolution. If the problem lies outside the
NetApp product line or cannot be solved by solutions specialists, NetApp will help
open a support call with the proper vendor to facilitate resolution (note: the customer
must have a valid contract with the vendor being contacted).
Further, in the quest to keep critical systems up and running, automated support tools
and services play a crucial role. In an effort to proactively keep systems running
efficiently, NetApp Support Automation has intelligence built into Data ONTAP to
maintain high availability within the IT environment. In particular, NetApp offers:
 AutoSupport. AutoSupport provides ongoing analysis and monitoring of the health
of NetApp shared storage systems that provide nonintrusive alerts and parts
requests (PREQ). The tool proactively addresses potential issues before they arise
and provides secure weekly analysis of system stability and performance issues.
 My AutoSupport. This Web-based application leverages the NetApp
AutoSupport engine and offers a suite of customer self-service tools for
configuration, change, and event management.
 NetApp Remote Support Diagnostics Tool (RSDT). This tool helps NetApp
support diagnose and resolve storage system issues without requiring
intervention by the customer's IT organization.
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11. NetApp Global Support and tools provide customers with a flexible support model that
offers:
 Improved time to resolution (NetApp's first line is directly with technical staff and
not simply with a customer service representative who passes along information.
The result is efficient and timely support to the customer.)
 Responsive, global 24 x 7 support with the ability to meet site-specific needs in
over 100 countries
 Proactive monitoring, management, and issue resolution by instituting best
practices and leveraging NetApp Support Automation tools
 Multivendor support and the ability to completely manage a support case issue
from opening to full resolution
 Ongoing insight and improvements to FlexPod design and implementation
With the collaborative support process that is delivered through the Support Alliance
for FlexPod, NetApp and its partners have assembled a service offering that spans all
aspects of technology supporting business processes across the enterprise. From
hardware and software to networking and business services, NetApp services
portfolio offers a comprehensive approach for enterprises to help resolve pain points
across the full application life cycle for complex IT ecosystems.
Partner Experience with Support Alliance for
FlexPod
While the Support Alliance model for FlexPod is ultimately aimed at improving the
end-user customer experience, it also addresses the needs of channel partners. One
of the initiatives, "Imagine Virtually Anything," helps ecosystem partners bring
FlexPod solutions to enterprise customers. IDC spoke with the CTO at IronBrick, a
channel partner that provides IT infrastructure design, integration, and implementation
services to corporate, nonprofit, and government entities in the United States.
IronBrick has experience tackling complex data management problems for over 300
customers. Since 2007, the company has been focusing on advanced datacenter
modernization, building on a foundation of technologies such as virtualization and
NetApp shared storage to help transform customer datacenters into next-generation
virtualized and converged infrastructure. The CTO cited a few common themes
among the challenges its enterprise customers are seeing, including:
 Rapid data growth
 Concerns around operational and resource limitations
 Compliance with regulatory and/or business governance mandates
 Physical datacenter issues regarding space, power, and cooling
 The desire to deploy IT solutions that enable nimble response to today's dynamic
and fast-moving application demand
©2011 IDC #229575 11

12. In looking for a solution to address these challenges, IronBrick, for the past several
years, has been deploying solutions built on NetApp, Cisco, and VMware
architecture. As such, the evolution to become an "Imagine Virtually Anything" partner
was a natural fit for the company.
IronBrick has deployed numerous FlexPod implementations in multinational
organizations across 10 vertical markets and expects that number to grow rapidly. For
IronBrick and its customers, FlexPod is reducing the time required to bring solutions
to market. With a flexible and efficient partner ecosystem for providing on-demand
resources, and a catalog of validated application design guides, FlexPod is one of the
most complete private cloud architectures available.
Most importantly, IronBrick sees incredible value in having access to the Support
Alliance for FlexPod. For a channel partner like IronBrick, the Support Alliance model
is used both as a resource for the implementation process and to help the customer
in an ongoing, long-term support environment.
Another key element is the ability for the partner to recreate a customer issue in the
Unified Support Lab built by the Support Alliance. The capability to reach back to level
3 engineering at any time for any reason affords IronBrick and its customers the
confidence to provide issue resolution in a timely and accurate manner. The lab also
allows IronBrick the ability to test compatibility scenarios before implementation.
IronBrick has engaged the Support Alliance for both implementation and long-term
customer support purposes, citing particular value in improving the implementation
process. Other benefits cited by IronBrick include:
 Training and tools to become a customer's trusted adviser
 Wide variety of service offerings
 Flexibility in the size of the platform
 A dedication to the channel strategy
Further, IronBrick explains that the uniqueness of the collaborative relationship
between NetApp, Cisco, and VMware to provide support and development stands out
as a deeper partnership when compared with more traditional go-to-market
approaches. In the context of converged infrastructure environments, instead of the
channel partner needing to coordinate the collaboration, this collaboration is already
orchestrated by the vendor partners, creating a much more efficient and productive
environment to implement and support the solution.
Finally, IronBrick points out that while other vendors have attempted to create
converged infrastructure solutions and collaborative support models, the designs are
rigid in nature and don't compare to the flexibility of FlexPod. Specifically, FlexPod,
with the help of the Support Alliance if needed, provides the ability to deploy in
phases; quickly adapt to oscillating business requirements of customers; scale out or
scale up — or both — depending on new initiatives or needs; and add resources on
demand in a modular fashion at each layer in the FlexPod stack.
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13. IronBrick expects continued growth in its FlexPod implementations, with the joint
support model playing a key role. As the CTO stated, "These expectations have been
met in our experience and that of our customers who provided feedback on the
alliance support model. Coordination with multivendor issues, response times to
problems, and communication related to ticket status and problem resolution has met
expectations."
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
IDC believes that NetApp and its alliance partners Cisco and VMware have
developed a strong ecosystem of partnerships and solutions to address the growing
opportunity related to virtualized and converged infrastructure environments. In
addition, the Support Alliance for FlexPod will help to maximize support efficiency and
maintain the ongoing value of the initial FlexPod investment over time.
With the importance of relationships coming to the forefront, customers will
increasingly be asking vendors for evidence of strong relationships among engineers,
managers, and executives within the Support Alliance model. As NetApp and its
partners strive to build upon their reputation for providing a positive customer
experience, they should consider the following:
 Storage solutions providers such as NetApp are not alone in developing converged
infrastructure solutions that address holistic IT deployments comprising server,
storage, networking, and virtualization. While this collective investment across
many server and storage vendors to bring holistic IT deployments to market
validates the approach taken by NetApp to partner with Cisco and VMware, the
three companies will need to make sure the alliance and the FlexPod solution
remain valuable and relevant in a growing field of competitors.
 NetApp has already begun to develop advanced levels of automation and service
orchestration with respect to managing the overall converged infrastructure
environment. It will behoove the company to continue expanding relationships in
this area with independent software vendors (ISVs) and application partners to
gain advanced capabilities in automated management as well as unique industry
application expertise. This increased expertise will only add to the efficiency of
the joint support model and processes.
 The Unified Support Lab maintained by NetApp, Cisco, and VMware to support
FlexPod implementation and development will be a key component to success.
NetApp should strive to expand the capabilities and value of the lab, which could
ultimately lead toward even tighter integration and support of the FlexPod
solution for customers and channel partners.
CONCLUSION
The demands placed on today's IT organizations are accelerating on all fronts, with IT
executives and administrators feeling the pressure to address a variety of challenges
regarding growth, scalability, and management. With the advent of converged
infrastructure solutions — those that address more holistic deployments of server,
©2011 IDC #229575 13

14. shared storage, networking, and virtualization capabilities — the VMware vSphere
built on FlexPod datacenter solution born from the partnership between NetApp,
Cisco, and VMware is poised to address many of these customer concerns.
In striving to achieve "trusted advisor" status with enterprise organizations, NetApp and
its services channel partners must leverage a valuable set of tools and processes to
maximize efficiency, provide long-term insight, and create a positive customer
experience. To this end, the Support Alliance, which leverages a Unified Support Lab
and a framework of technical expertise among all three "Imagine Virtually Anything"
partners, provides a unique, unified support process that enables streamlined and
efficient infrastructure solution support for FlexPod customers and channel partners.
The resulting improvement in support efficiency and the ability to maintain the value of
the FlexPod solution over time will prove to be a key enabler for NetApp and its partners
to truly become trusted advisors among a growing set of enterprise customers.
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14 #229575 ©2011 IDC