A lot of people talk about forming “partnerships” — not in the legal sense, but rather loose affiliations designed to take advantage of the parties’ distinct strengths in order to address needs in the marketplace. Sure, those kinds of partnerships have become commonplace in the IT industry, but I believe they still have value. Almost nothing in today’s IT environment operates in isolation, so it’s beneficial to have an alliance of partners who can help customers put the pieces together in a coherent way.

That said, the partnership of VMware, Cisco and EMC is something truly remarkable. As you will learn in this issue, the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) coalition is transforming not just discrete components of the IT environment but the underlying architecture of the IT infrastructure itself.

VMware, Cisco and EMC took the very best elements of their product portfolios and assembled them into units called Vblock Infrastructure Packages. These platforms are fully integrated and validated to ensure rapid, risk-free implementation. Long-term, they deliver dramatic reductions in total cost of ownership, and streamlined provisioning and management. And the Vblock infrastructure can easily be scaled, providing the flexibility to meet ever-changing business needs.

But the VCE coalition is more than just a new product suite. It’s a long-term commitment among these vendors to work together to provide end-to-end accountability. VMware, Cisco and EMC are sharing troubleshooting tools and processes and collaborating in the lab environment to ensure a seamless support experience for customers.

FusionStorm is longtime partner of each of these vendors, and is very proud to be a part of the VCE coalition. We add the systems integration expertise that can help ensure a smooth transition to the Vblock platform where it makes sense for your business, while still leveraging your existing IT investments.

The word “partnership” may be somewhat overused, but that doesn’t mean the concept has worn thin.

John Varel

CEO, Founder, Chairman

FusionStorm