Richard Davies wrote: The UK has a good crop of technology pioneers in cloud computing - for example ElasticHosts, FlexiScale, Flexiant, OnApp - and also some strong government initiatives such as G-Cloud.
We will have to see whether this kind of technical leadership converts into swift mass-market adoption or not.
ANAHEIM, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 07/26/07 -- NETWORKERS AT CISCO LIVE 2007 - The First
American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), America's largest provider of business
information, has partnered with Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and AT&T in its data
center consolidation in order to deliver mortgage, real estate and
financial information and services more efficiently. Driven by a growing
business focus on globalization and productivity, First American identified
the consolidation of its data centers and enhancing collaboration through
unified communications as its top information technology (IT) business
priorities.
"To build a world-class network that keeps pace with First American's
strategy for growth and a sustainable competitive advantage, our first
priority was to consolidate our data centers and standardize on a flexible
and scalable network that delivers virtualized storage services on-demand
anywhere in the company," said Evan Jafa, chief technology officer of The
First American Corporation. "The next priority was to deliver a platform
that brings together all forms of communications to enhance collaboration
and foster greater productivity across teams. Cisco and AT&T helped us
successfully address these priorities and achieve our objectives."
First American partnered with Cisco Advanced Services and AT&T on the
design, configuration and delivery of this multiyear initiative in order to
achieve:
-- Increased efficiency at First American's two new world-class data
centers in Dallas, Texas, and Santa Ana, Calif.: With the goal of
continuous access to all business-critical applications and systems from
any of its 2,100 global offices, First American consolidated its seven
networks into a single simplified architecture in the two new data centers.
With this data center consolidation, First American standardized on a
common fabric for the storage area network (SAN) based on the Cisco
Multilayer DataCenter Switch (MDS) 9000 Family for improved data protection
and the virtualization of tape-drive resources across the company.
-- An enhanced collaboration system that converges data, voice, video and
messaging systems: In 18 months, First American and AT&T completed a
rollout of Cisco Unified IP Phones enterprise wide to more than 60 global
locations. Based on the Cisco Unified Communication system and Cisco
Unified Contact Center Enterprise, First American significantly reduced
telecom costs and improved operating efficiencies with the data-center-
based, central IP communications service that supports employees across the
enterprise.
"AT&T has collaborated with The First American Corporation and Cisco to
integrate First American's voice and data services onto a single unified
network," said Rick Resnick, senior vice president of Global Network Field
Operations at AT&T. "AT&T designed and deployed a network that supports
First American's vision to consolidate its multiple divisions into a
cohesive standardized environment with core IP WAN and IP telephony
platforms. AT&T's ability to extend a full suite of advanced technologies
strengthens our strategic partnership with First American Corporation."
The First American data center consolidation initiative required moving
from separate SAN islands to one standardized SAN fabric with the
flexibility and redundancy necessary to deliver storage services anywhere
and anytime across the global corporation. Cisco MDS 9000 Family
Multilayer Directors and Fabric Switches were selected for the virtual SANs
(VSANs) and inter-VSAN routing (IVR) capabilities that help prevent service
disruptions and enable the virtualization of tape-drive resources so that
enterprise information can be stored and backed up anywhere, irrespective
of where the tape drive physically resides. This flexibility helps First
American both optimize and strategically place its storage resources in
alignment with its business goals and priorities.
Enhancing Collaboration at First American with Cisco Unified Communications
First American has differentiated itself by combining advanced analytics
with its vast data resources and providing solutions to businesses and
consumers with exemplary customer service. To further enhance interactions
both inside and outside the corporation with customers and partners, First
American provides its employees with unified and reliable access to
collaboration resources such as e-mail, IP telephony, IP video and instant
messaging.
Services are powered by the Cisco Unified Communications system and Cisco
Unified Contact Center Enterprise and delivered and managed by AT&T. First
American has already realized cost savings from the reduction in telecom
costs and improved operational efficiencies with the simplified adds, moves
and changes of 10,000 devices deployed on the global IP telephony system.
In the event of a natural disaster, dynamic call routing has been
implemented so that First American can send its calls anywhere in the world
at any time for uninterrupted communications.
"First American has successfully consolidated and strategically evolved its
data centers by combining multiple networks into a single standardized
Cisco network that delivers virtualized storage services anywhere around
the world," said Douglas Gourlay, senior director of Cisco's Data Center
Technology Solutions Group. "With this agile network infrastructure, First
American can easily incorporate new technologies such as Cisco Unified
Communications and other collaboration technologies that will help drive
continued future growth and a global competitive edge."
About First American
The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), a FORTUNE 500® company that
traces its history to 1889, is America's largest provider of business
information. First American combines advanced analytics with its vast data
resources to supply businesses and consumers with valuable information
products to support the major economic events of people's lives, such as
getting a job, renting an apartment, buying a car or house, securing a
mortgage and opening or buying a business. The First American Family of
Companies, many of which command leading market share positions in their
respective industries, operate within five primary business segments,
including: Title Insurance and Services, Specialty Insurance, Mortgage
Information, Property Information and First Advantage. With revenues of
$8.5 billion in 2006, First American has approximately 2,100 offices
throughout the United States and abroad. More information about the company
and an archive of its press releases can be found at www.firstam.com.
About Networkers at Cisco Live
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direction, new products and customer best practices. Networkers at Cisco
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at Cisco Live 2007, please visit http://www.cisco-live.com.
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