What is VCE and Vblock?

The Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) coalition is a collaborative effort between Cisco, EMC, and VMware to deliver a complete IT infrastructure that integrates best-of-breed virtualization, networking, compute, storage, security, and management technologies. The concept is wrapped around VCE's Vblock Infrastructure Packages, composed of the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), EMC storage, and VMware vSphere. The result is a reference architecture jointly created by EMC, VMware, and Cisco to create a modular building block architecture for cloud computing.

There are three Vblock Reference Architectures:

Vblock 0 (300 – 800 VMs): An entry-level configuration to meet the IT needs of small datacenters; test/development platform for Partners and customers.

1-2 Blade Chassis

6-30 ½-height Blades + 2 Management
32-128 Cores
48-GB Server Memory per Blade
46+ TB Storage Capacity
SATA drives
NAS, iSCSI, and SAN
1 Rack

Vblock 1 (800 – 3,000 VMs): A mid-sized configuration to deliver a broad range of IT capabilities to organizations of all sizes.

2-4 Blade Chassis
16-32 Blades
128-256 Cores
960-1,920-GB Server Memory
38-64-TB Storage Capacity
FC, SATA, & EFD drives
SAN, iSCSI, and optionally NAS
2 racks (min) or 3 racks (max)

Vblock 2 (3,000 – 6,000+ VMs): A high-end configuration that is completely extensible to meet the most demanding IT needs of large enterprises or service providers.

3,000-6,000 VMs
4-8 Blade Chassis
32-64 Blades
256-512 Cores
3-7TB Server Memory
96-146TB Storage Capacity
FC, SATA, & EFD drives
SAN, iSCSI, and optionally NAS
4 racks (min) or 5 racks (max)

WWT and Vblock

As Cisco largest UCS and Federal partner, WWT has successfully deployed the Vblock solutions a number of customers. For example, VCE was deployed for one customer to performance issues for their existing Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution. After implementation, overall performance in creating and starting virtual machines was enhanced by 50% or more. Having reads from “delta” disks on SSD drives eliminated I/O issues. PCoIP was proven to display audio and video well enough to meet their needs.