Fast IT is a transformational new model that Cisco is using to help South African customers and partners simplify IT operations and make the most of the digital economy.
The model evolves and unifies infrastructure, platform, and applications to reduce complexity, accelerate service deployment, and increase security.
According to the Cisco Global Cloud Index, by 2018 the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is expected to have the highest cloud traffic growth rate at 54% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and the data centre traffic will grow at 40% from 2013 to 2018.
To maximize the benefits from this incredible growth in data, IT must evolve to enable innovation and deliver better business outcomes more quickly, or risk becoming a burden to the organisation and it must become both a source and a facilitator of disruptive innovation.
South African Organisations are faced with mushrooming technical complexity that slows their ability to enter new markets, deliver new products and services, manage risks and security threats, and drive efficiency. Fast innovation demands Fast IT.
That is why Cisco is announcing:
* An expansion of our cloud managed IT solution, Cisco Meraki, to the entire IT infrastructure. We’ve gone from managing wireless networking to managing switching, security and mobility. Meraki has also expanded beyond small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) to a solution now operational for large scale enterprises. It has new features tailored to this segment.
* The general availability of Cisco ONE Software – a comprehensive portfolio of software suites that offer access to ongoing new software innovations, IT automation, open APIs for application development and flexible consumption models. Part of the Cisco ONE Software suite, the Cisco ONE Enterprise Cloud suite is a new hybrid cloud software solution that brings together the security and control of a private cloud with the self-service and automation of a public cloud.
A key stepping stone in our journey to deliver Fast IT to our customers is to accelerate automation. “With Cisco Meraki and Cisco ONE, we offer a portfolio of software-based solutions, a range of deployment models, and multiple purchasing options to partners and customers,” Mark Hosking, DC and cloud manager, Africa. “Cloud plays a significant part in this. Security underlines everything we do.
“With our new flexible consumption of software and managed IT services – from the cloud to the data centre to the device – we can help our customers truly go fast, and make amazing things happen.”