Indeed, Cisco and VMware say they, and EMC, remain strongly committed to the VCE partnership.

Under the new initiative, VMware will integrate the Cisco Nexus 1000V series virtual switches with VMwares new vCloud Suite 5.1 and other VMware products. Cisco and VMware collaborated on development of the Nexus 1000V in 2009.

Cisco and VMware will also develop UCS-based cloud systems bundling Ciscos Nexus 1000V virtual switch, CSR 1000V cloud router, ASA 1000V cloud firewall, virtual WAAS WAN optimization, and Intelligent Automation for Cloud with VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 and complementary management offerings.

Cisco will also resell VMware vCloud Suite 5.1, which will feature enhanced interoperability with Cisco Nexus 1000V. Additionally, VMware and Cisco are expanding their respective VMware View and Cisco VXI products to deliver integrated systems for small-medium businesses and remote office users featuring Cisco e-Series UCS servers and VMware View.

Cisco and VMware will also provide Cisco Validated Designs and reference architectures to assist in customer implementation of the joint products. The combined products will also be made available for VCE, as well as other channel partners.