At Cisco Live, Cisco's annual IT and communications conference, Datalink announced the addition of secure hybrid cloud capabilities to its all-in-one Cloud Complete package of services and solutions for fast-tracking IT transformation and associated cloud deployments. Cloud Complete bundles strategic planning, design and security services with both converged and hyperconverged infrastructures, private and hybrid cloud build-out, and technical support, creating a project framework that shortens cloud rollouts from months to weeks.

The new Cloud Complete security enhancement enables security policies to be defined within the hybrid cloud environment at the application level, based on an analysis of client workloads by Datalink consultants. The resulting microsegmentation - achieved through the software-defined network (SDN) features of the Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)- makes it possible to segregate sensitive information such as billing and customer data to mitigate the risk that a hacker traversing the network laterally will be able to gain access to the most privileged accounts.

These features add an important building block to Datalink's broad suite of cloud enablement services, which span all phases of cloud planning, strategy, design and deployment and also include a fully functional cloud demonstration environment. The company's cloud offerings are part of a portfolio of consulting services designed to deliver complex IT transformation projects that support the client's strategic business objectives.

"There has been an explosion of technology innovations, including converged, hyper-converged, all-flash storage and public cloud, prompting clients to seek Datalink's help with evaluating and choosing the best platform for their critical data center workloads," said Shawn O'Grady, Chief Operations Officer, Datalink. "Clients turn to us to simplify the process and leverage our expertise in planning, building, deploying, and managing the proper technology and/or platforms for their unique environment. Our latest private and hybrid cloud innovations give our customers a simple way to rapidly evaluate and deploy best-of-breed infrastructure."

Simplify and Streamline the Transition to Cloud

Cloud Complete consolidates all cloud-related strategy, technology selection, design and implementation processes into a single project framework, eliminating lengthy planning and a la carte purchases that delay cloud deployments. Key elements of the package include:

• Combined converged and hyperconverged systems - Cloud Complete can incorporate both converged and hyperconverged infrastructures to provide the benefits of each. All-flash converged systems can be utilized for clients' most demanding workloads, while flash/spinning disk hyperconverged systems can be included to simplify management.
• Hybrid cloud management - Unified management across heterogeneous public and private clouds is included, with features such as bidirectional workload mobility, centralized visibility and support for common network and security policies.
• Bundled services - Each Cloud Complete project includes Datalink assistance in developing the client's IT transformation and cloud strategies; design and deployment of the enabling infrastructure; and single-point-of-contact technical support for all vendors' products in the selected infrastructure through Datalink OneCall Unified Support Services. Datalink can also supply managed services for monitoring and managing the Cloud Complete infrastructure.
• Optional self-service portal development - A Cloud Complete deployment sets the stage for IT teams to offer brokered services through self-service portals enabling automated provisioning of end users' compute, storage, network and operating system requests. Datalinkconsultants can provide service catalog design, service automation and related portal development services.

Datalink is a Cisco Powered Service Provider holding Cisco Master Cloud Builder Specialization, Cisco Master Security Specialization, and CiscoMaster Service Provider certifications. The company also has expertise in all of the major converged reference architectures, including FlashStack, FlexPod, SmartStack and Unified Compute Platform, all of which use Cisco technology as their compute engine.

Datalink is demonstrating its Cloud Complete solution this week at Booth 3234 at Cisco Live in Las Vegas. Post-show in-person and virtual demonstrations are available through Datalink On-Demand Labs, the company's in-house cloud demonstration environment. Lab demonstrations can be scheduled at www.datalink.com/cloud or by calling 800.448.6314.