Award of Cisco UCS ATP accreditation

 
TIDMANS 
 
Award of Cisco UCS ATP accreditation 
 
                                                                                                     09/10/2009 
                                                                                                   GB0009606764 
 
                                                 ANS GROUP PLC 
 
                                        ("ANS Group" or the "Company") 
 
                            ANS Group earns prestigious Cisco UCS ATP accreditation 
 
The Directors of ANS Group plc, the Manchester based leading virtualisation and infrastructure specialist, are 
pleased to announce that the Company has been awarded the prestigious Unified Computing System Authorised 
Technology Provider (UCS ATP) accreditation by worldwide networking solutions leader, Cisco. 
 
The accreditation means that ANS Group will be one of only five companies in the UK, alongside the likes of BT, 
able to provide specialist support to businesses looking to implement this new type of computing power that 
enhances a virtualised infrastructure. ANS Group is the first of the second wave of Cisco partners to provide 
UCS services. 
 
Paul Sweeney, Managing Director of ANS Group, said: "We are absolutely delighted to be able to announce our new 
Cisco accreditation, to be one of only five companies in the UK deemed capable of competently offering this 
solution is a great honour". 
 
"More uniquely, this makes us the only Cisco Gold Partner with a UCS ATP to carry a Cisco Gold Star for 
customer satisfaction and is testament to all the hard work our staff have invested to become true experts in 
the virtualisation arena". 
 
"In addition, we are now the fastest growing NetApp partner in NetApp's history and this has been our 
biggest quarter ever with regard to VMware sales, both achievements which have demonstrated to Cisco our level 
of commitment to being at the forefront of development in virtualisation, and that we are the best choice of 
partner for anyone implementing a Next Generation Data Centre solution". 
 
The Cisco Unified Computing System represents a radical simplification of traditional architectures, 
dramatically reducing the number of devices to be purchased, cabled, configured, powered, cooled, and secured. 
The solution delivers end-to-end optimisation for virtualised environments while retaining the ability to 
support traditional OS and application stacks in physical environments. 
 
The new system can withstand the demands placed upon it by a modern business while being ready to accommodate 
future technologies as they become available. The use of service profiles increases business agility by 
allocating computer resources to workload requirements. 
 
This next-generation data centre platform accelerates the delivery of new services simply, reliably and 
securely with four times the scalability of traditional blade centre methods 
 
Ends. 
 
The Directors of ANS Group Plc are responsible for the contents of this announcement. 
 
ENQUIRIES 
 
ANS Group Plc                                                               Tel: [phone] 
Scott Fletcher, Chairman 
[e-mail] 
 
St Helens Capital Partners LLP                                              Tel: [phone] 
Duncan Vasey or Mark Anwyl 
 
MC2                                                                         Tel: [phone] 
Claire Tennant 
[e-mail] 
 
Notes to editor 
 
Origin and functionality of UCS ATP Accreditation 
 
The first server farms or 'blade centres' were not designed with virtualisation in mind. They had an 
architecture that was only 23-26% open, while these new blades are around 63% open, meaning they are much 
easier to cool and therefore more economic to run and the greener option. These blades are built on Intel 
Nehalem processors, which means extended memory that allows around 4 x more virtual machines per server. 
 
Key features propelling the technology to the forefront of industry offering include a hypervisor bypass. 
Hypervisors interact with hardware on traditional machines in a way that slows down interaction. The hypervisor 
bypass means there is direct communication between the network and the input/output layer, using VM Direct 
Path. 
 
While other systems use VM Direct Path successfully, the UCS input/output cards are designed specifically to 
use the VP Direct Path functionality, optimising performance at every level. 
 
Another key feature of UCS is the Service Profiles - any blade can be put in to a blade chassis and it will 
then dynamically build the configuration, meaning there is no operating system it is designed to work best 
with, maximising usability across the board. 
 
 
About ANS Group 
 
ANS Group is a technology infrastructure specialist in the provision of hardware, software and 24/7 
managed services to UK Enterprise businesses. Operating within both public and private sectors, its 
leading and award-winning solutions are offered in four key areas; 
 
Unified Communications and Collaboration 
Networking and Security 
Data Centre 
Managed Services 
 
Based in Manchester, ANS Group delivers consistently high levels of customer service through all project 
deployments and ongoing support to its 400 plus client base. Working closely with key partners Cisco, 
Microsoft, VMware, NetApp, Lifesize and Smart ID allows ANS Group to offer an unrivalled level of expertise and 
experience in the multifaceted industry of IT. 
 
 
ANS Group Plc