Cisco Systems Inc. has become the latest information technology firm to offer a system capable of running Microsoft Corp.’s hybrid cloud offering Azure Stack, which enables companies to run the Azure cloud and its software in companies’ own data centers.

The new hardware offering is called Cisco Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack, and is available on Cisco’s Unified Computing System converged infrastructure platform, the company said. It will become available in the third quarter of this year.

The company said the jointly engineered system would allow for “accelerated growth and innovation for enterprise customers and service providers looking to grow their businesses quickly with an efficient and flexible cloud consumption model,” and added that service providers will be able to deliver Cisco-Azure infrastructure as-a-service and as a platform-as-a-service.

Some of the components of the system have been tailor made for Azure Stack workloads, including its Virtual Interface Card for handling networking in UCS systems, which has been optimized for Microsoft’s cloud software.

Cisco’s UCS platform has helped the company branch out from its traditional networking role to become a leading player in the server space. Cisco was tied for third place alongside IBM Corp. and Lenovo Group Ltd. in International Data Corp.’s server vendor rankings for the third quarter of 2016. During that quarter, Cisco shipped out $928 million worth of server hardware, claiming a 7.4 percent share of the worldwide market. The company also registered 4.8 percent year-over-year growth in the same period. Following on from this success, Cisco said it plans to move into hyperconverged infrastructure with a new line of HyperFlex Systems later this year.

Cisco becomes the fourth company to announce an Azure Stack system, following on from Dell Technologies Inc., Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co. and Lenovo, which all announced their own systems last year. Dell will actually be launching two separate systems, while HPE is offering a setup based on its leading ProLiant DL380 server, with compute, networking and storage integrated into a single appliance.

The delay between those announcements and their actual launch is down to Microsoft, which first announced Azure Stack back in 2015. The company initially said the software would be able to run on any systems that met its requirements before changing tack and delaying its launch until later this year. At the same time, Microsoft said Azure Stack would only be available on turnkey integrated systems from selected vendors.

Cisco said it will reveal more about its Azure Stack system at the Cisco Live event in Berlin Feb. 20-24.

Photo courtesy of Cisco