NetScaler Now Available as a Remote Services Blade for Cisco Nexus 7000
Citrix today announced the availability of Citrix NetScaler®, the industry’s most advanced cloud networking functionality, as a remote services blade for the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch. This unique integration of NetScaler into the Nexus 7000 has been jointly developed between the two companies using the Cisco Remote Integrated Service Engine (RISE) technology. Once installed, NetScaler integrates an external appliance as if it were an embedded service module attached directly to the switch backplane in order to leverage the intelligence of the switch itself. This enables automated control, simplified deployment and an overall lower cost of operations while still delivering the standalone performance, availability and reliability of a best-in-class application delivery controller (ADC).
As businesses move towards cloud-based service models, datacenters require integrated application network services to provide robust application delivery capabilities that accelerate application performance without the burden of increased complexity. Successfully managing application workloads in a simple, flexible and scalable manner, while lowering datacenter costs is critical in the new era of cloud and mobile services. The unique integration of NetScaler VPX™, MPX™, SDX™ and 1000V (distributed by Cisco) – each of which can act as a remote services blade of Nexus 7000 – will enable organizations to take advantage of the full power of NetScaler, but with the additional advantage that it will also be tightly coupled with any Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switch backplane. Powered by RISE technology, the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series and Citrix NetScaler product line will integrate together to optimize the management of policy-based routing for application delivery.
Cisco and Citrix believe the IT industry is on the verge of the next major architectural transition: the mobile-cloud era. To help enterprise and service provider customers capture the market transition and transform their business models Cisco and Citrix have expanded their collaboration from desktop virtualization into three strategic areas: cloud networking, cloud orchestration, and mobile workstyles.
Capabilities
Key capabilities of Citrix NetScaler integration with Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch with RISE technology include:
· Plug and Play Set up – RISE technology significantly reduces the number of steps required to integrate NetScaler with the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch. The process is reduced from 45 steps with a generic ADC without RISE, to only nine steps when using NetScaler with RISE. As well as reducing set up time, RISE keeps the network configurations in sync so that ongoing maintenance and upgrades are greatly simplified, and risk from configuration errors is greatly reduced.
· Reduced Downtime – Real-time route updates between NetScaler and the Nexus 7000 Series Switch ensure fast recovery from service failures by up to 40 times. By enabling NetScaler to deliver route health updates to the Nexus 7000 Series Switch via RISE, customers can more easily deploy shared services within and across datacenters at a significantly reduced cost of operation and with greater availability than ever before.
· Ease of Monitoring – RISE integration brings greater visibility across the datacenter by eliminating the need to hide source IP addresses through full proxy ADC services. This ensures that NetScaler has more visibility into monitoring infrastructures across the datacenter and ensures tighter control of the environment.
· Integrated multi-tenancy support – RISE integration spans the multi-tenancy features of NetScaler and Nexus 7000 Series switches. Building on the advanced multi-tenancy capabilities of NetScaler SDX™, this provides comprehensive flexibility in supporting private and public cloud scenarios, including the ability to set up Cisco Nexus VDCs and NetScaler instances in one-to-many, many-to-one, and a countless variety of many-to-many configurations.
Availability
Citrix NetScaler as a remote services blade for the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch is available in April 2014.
“The move to cloud-based service models is driving customers to transform traditional datacenters into automated datacenters. We are helping our customers simplify their technology needs in order to make this switch. We’re pleased to see Cisco and Citrix working together to introduce products that move in this direction, and are eager to demonstrate these cost-saving technologies across our entire customer base.”
– Christine Holloway
Christine Holloway, Vice President, Converged Infrastructure Solutions, CDW
“Virtual network services are critical to enterprises adopting private and public cloud because those customers require an application-delivery infrastructure that is dynamic and responsive. It’s essential for them to be able to manage multiple applications while maintaining flexibility and scalability. Citrix NetScaler, offered as a virtual-services blade for the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch, simplifies deployment and lowers cost of operation.”
– Brad Casemore
Brad Casemore, Research Director, Datacenter Networks,IDC
“As the data center undergoes a fundamental transformation, driven by cloud, mobility and virtualization, Citrix and Cisco share a common vision of a flexible, scalable, secure network. Today’s release of NetScaler as a seamless of extension of Cisco Nexus 7000 through RISE further demonstrates our commitment to collaborate by unifying best-in-class technologies from each of the companies to accelerate the transformation to new network service delivery models in the mobile-cloud era.”
– Ram Appalaraju
Ram Appalaraju, Vice President, Products, DataCenter Group, Cisco
“As networks transform into cloud architectures for secure and scalable mobile services delivery, intelligent automation becomes a core underpinning to ease deployment, enhance operational control and enable true network elasticity. Leveraging Cisco RISE technology in the Nexus 7000 series, best-in-class application delivery capabilities powered by Citrix NetScaler become an industry-first offering to be tightly coupled with the Nexus fabric – empowering public and private clouds to dramatically simplify networks and gain unparalleled agility.”
– Sunil Potti
Vice President and General Manager, NetScaler Product Group, Citrix
About Citrix
Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS) is a leader in virtualization, networking and cloud services to enable new ways for people to work better. Citrix solutions help IT and service providers to build, manage and secure virtual and mobile workspaces that seamlessly deliver apps, desktops, data and services to anyone, on any device, over any network or cloud. This year Citrix is celebrating 25 years of innovation, making IT simpler and people more productive with mobile workstyles. With annual revenue in 2013 of $2.9 billion, Citrix solutions are in use at more than 330,000 organizations and by over 100 million people globally. Learn more at ;www.citrix.com