Cisco announced new data center solutions for customers who want to run Microsoft enterprise applications on Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS.) This launch is a part of the networking giant’s recovery and reshaped focus on its core businesses, and comes the same day NetApp announced a similar offering also powered by Microsoft components.

Cisco launched two new offerings, the first being the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Fast Track Data Warehouse 3.0 for Cisco Unified Computing System. This reference architecture is designed for the medium to large enterprise segment, and is meant to optimize the performance of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 running on Cisco UCS C-Series rack-mount servers .

“The reference architecture simplifies system selections for customers based on the performance, capacity, scalability, and pricing that the customer needs. The reference configurations include industry leading storage vendors, EMC and NetApp.”

The second new offering is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2OLTP reference configuration for Cisco UCS, which is designed to handle online transaction processing workloads. The reference infrastructure is also focused on reducing total costs of ownership by incorporating a number of factors including EMC technology, and is also based on Cisco UCS C-Series rack-mount servers.

Cisco is, as many commentators put it, a work in progress. This is why the news that Wall Street has low estimates for its Q3 revenue is actually good news according to some – this demonstrates that analysts recognize there is still work and development to do. The networking giant seem to be doing just that, with some of the most recent developments including a report suggesting AT&T and Verizon will resell Cisco’s upcoming business tablet.