Cisco and VMware share a long track record of joint innovation and integrated solution development, providing differentiated capabilities and benefits for our partners and customers. Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is a great example of technology that raises the performance bar and dramatically simplifies the data center operational environment by delivering a compute platform purpose-built with scalable virtualization in mind. Meanwhile, VMware Horizon View is uniquely suited to delivering a total desktop virtualization solution that simplifies IT management, increases security and increases control of end-user access while centrally delivering desktop services from the cloud, which drives down costs.

When you pair Cisco UCS with VMware Horizon View-you get the best of both worlds: truly scalable, easy to manage, end-to-end solutions that dramatically improve price-to-performance ratios for desktop virtualization deployments.

Large enterprises began adoptingVirtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)as customers sought more secure, scalable and cost-effective means to deliver desktop workspaces to end-users. These days, VDI helps enterprises support growing trends like Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD), or as some of our VMware friends call it, Spend-Your-Own-Money (SYOM). As a result, Cisco and VMware have been successfully delivering VDI solutions to enterprise customers for the last two years.

But what we've heard from you, our trusted channel partner community,is that it's harder to build the business case for VDI with customers who are in the midmarket space. Not only do these customers have fewer seats to virtualize, but they're also usually without the resources or time to decipher how all of the moving parts associated with VDI fit together. How do we enable them to benefit from VDI without the significant CAPEX hurdle, or the costs associated with scaling once their needs grow? And how do we provide them with simpler, more cost efficient solutions?

Check out how partners benefit from a tremendous midmarket VDI opportunity. 

Cisco and VMware are applying our innovation and integrated solution approach for VDI to address these challenges for our channel partners, and their midsize customers. Here's how:

1. We're helping our channel partners grow their VDI practiceswith Cisco and VMware's new cost-effective solutions, which dramatically improve the price-to-performance ratio of VDI implementations for customers of all sizes. This new focus for 2013 is driving everything we do, from solution innovation to demand generation to deal acceleration, and the result is that Cisco and VMware are making it easier and more profitable for our partners to drive small/midmarket VDI opportunities.

2. Cisco and VMware are delivering new jointly validated reference architectures and configurationsthat leverage Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) and VMware Horizon View, along with a growing ecosystem of technology partners including:

• Atlantis Computing
• EMC
• Fusion-io
• NetApp
• Nimble Storage

Solutions with other eco-system partners such as Nexenta, Tegile, and Whiptail are coming soon.

3. Cisco and VMware are offering a new bundled solution configuration, the Cisco UCS SmartPlay with VMware Horizon View.This approach offers convenient single-SKU ordering that combines Cisco UCS and VMware Horizon in an attractively discounted bundle.

The SmartPlay Starter Configuration includes:

• (2) UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects
• (1) UCS Chassis w/ two 2208 FEX
• (1) UCS B200 M3 Management Blade
• (3) UCS B200 M3 Desktop Workload Blades
• (300) Horizon View licenses

Expansion Bundles for additional users, and upgrade options for server-based storage are also available.

For customers who require smaller environments and prefer rackmount servers with internal storage, there's also a UCS C240 M3 Bundle sized for 100 users of View, as well as a UCS-E solution bundle for 30 users.

Join Cisco, VMware, and our eco-system partners in 2013, for the accelerated journey to VDI success.  Contact your Cisco or VMware Partner Manager for more information.