Nimble Storage, a provider of flash-optimized storage solutions, has released new private cloud reference architecture for Microsoft customers. The Nimble Storage SmartStack for Private Cloud with Cisco consists of three-rack unit (3U) Nimble Storage CS200 Series, a midmarket hybrid storage array that’s optimized to run Microsoft solutions, and compute from Cisco.

The configuration can include 2-4 Cisco UCS C220 M3 rack servers, two Cisco UCS fabric extenders and a pair of fabric interconnects. The design is built to run Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V for failover clustering, and System Center 2012.

Nimble says that its design has been certified to support up to 75 virtual machines in a Microsoft Fast Track environment. The solution can house multiple virtualized apps for footprint reduction purposes, and it makes full use of the non-disruptive scale-to-fit technology and data protection software that are included in CS200.

Claude Lorenson, director of product management at Microsoft, stated that:

“Microsoft’s vision of the Cloud OS gives customers groundbreaking technology to deploy cloud infrastructure using Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and SQL Server 2012. The Microsoft private cloud Fast Track reference architecture with Nimble Storage gives IT a pretested and validated approach to deploying their optimized datacenter. The architecture of the Nimble Storage CS-Series complements the rich functionality built into Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V.”

The announcment from Nimble follows similar news from Cisco: a week ago the networking giant released two Fast Track reference architectures of its own. One is based on EMC’s VSPEX Proven Infrastructure design, and the other is based on NetApp’s FlexPod appliance line. The latter competes with the Vblocks sold by VCE, a joint venture between Cisco, EMC and VMware that turned profitable in 2012.