Cisco, IBM team on centers

Integrators considering server blade technology to simplify data center architectures stand to benefit from last month's partnering announcement by Cisco Systems Inc. and IBM Corp.

The companies introduced a combined solution that integrates Cisco switches and IBM blade servers into one unit to help speed deployment and manage data center costs. To date, there is no standard to pull together blades and switches, making the Cisco-IBM solution "a de facto standard," according to an IBM spokesperson.