I could not have asked for a better start to the New Year. 2014 was quick off the starting blocks with January already setting the tone for the rest of the year as momentum continues to pick up in data center and cloud networking. Here are some highlights of the state of the business, new product introductions and additions to the ACI partner ecosystem -

•  ACI customer traction continues to get stronger; Ecosystem continues to add new members

Cisco Live! in Milan provided first-hand evidence of the strong interest from customers to learn more about Cisco's Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI). Customer briefing sessions were packed and demos in the World of Solutions had strong interest. Hundreds of customers are engaged in proof-of-concepts just in the first 30 days. Select customers have been provided the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) simulator to get them early exposure and help harden the APIC ahead of its general availability targeted for Q2 this year.

The open architecture of the APIC means that it is easier for new technology partners to come on board and integrate. New members coming on board the ACI ecosystem include A10 networks, Cloudera, MapR and Catbird.  Expect solution data sheets to be made available closer to the APIC availability.

Watch Soni Jiandani provide details of the momentum building around ACI -

The vision of ACI was also extended to Campus and WAN environments with the announcement of the APIC Enterprise module. Stay tuned for more on this space.

• Nexus 9000 continues to break new records -Miercom and Lippis test reports available

The Nexus 9000 has been shipping since Q4 of 2013 and is already breaking new records. Miercom released a report that detailed how the Nexus 9500 is offering the highest performance and lowest latency in 40GbE competitive studies. This supplements test reports released here earlier by Lippis and Ixia that focus on performance, availability, power efficiency and programmability.

• Data Center and Cloud Networking Portfolio expands with New Switches, Modules

The DCN portfolio continues to expand with new switches tailored for segment and use-case specific offerings.

New Nexus switches include:

• Nexus 7706 -a smaller form factor of the 7700 family focused on small DC core/aggregation/DCI deployments
• Nexus 5600 -the next generation of the Nexus 5500 family with line-rate L3 performance, lower latency, high density unified ports, support for VXLAN bridging and routing as well as Dynamic Fabric Automation (DFA)
• Nexus 3172TQ -an addition to the 1RU Nexus 3100 family with 10GbaseT ports for server access and integrated VXLAN

We also introduced a new 10GbE F3-series module for the 7700 series to supplement the 40GbE and 100GbE modules that are already shipping. Finally, a 20-port module brings the popular unified ports functionality on the Nexus 6004 driving operational efficiencies and simplifying LAN/SAN convergence.

• Hybrid Cloud solutions take to the skies with Cisco InterCloud

Early last year we announced the Nexus 1000V InterCloud technology. This year at Cisco Live! Milan we significantly broadened the scope and impact of its solution enabling open and highly secure hybrid cloud experiences with a focus on openness and choice. It was great to see several endorsements of this industry-leading concept with Neil Lock from British Telecom joining Cisco SVP David Yen on stage to share his excitement and perspectives on the promises of this technology.

As I said, I could not have asked for a better start to the year. There is excitement and energy in this dynamic space with 11 more months to go in the year, there's never a better time to shift into high gear and accelerate.

If you want to know more about the Data Center Network Evolution, our March 11 webcast will be a  great opportunity to hear more from our panel of experts . I hope to see you in the audience .