You're probably thinking I have the best job in Silicon Valley. Last month I was running the Cisco UCS -with Citrix XenDesktop demos at Citrix Synergy in Anaheim. This week it's time for Cisco Live 2013 at the Orlando Convention Center. So you're right I do have an enviable job, bringing together the best of Cisco and Citrix technologies that help customers work better, with more flexibility and greater security -and also having some fun in the process.  If like me, you are fortunate enough to be attending, I am sure you are looking forward to the John Chambers's keynote, the Super Sessions and the Cisco Party.

In addition you will have another great opportunity to check out and experience the latest innovations in our Cisco Desktop Virtualization Solutions portfolio for Citrix XenDesktop.I want to spend the next few minutes taking you through a virtual tour of the Cisco and Citrix  presents at the event. Let's pick up action in the Cisco Unified Data Center (UDC)Booth 758.

The Desktop Virtualization demos in the Cisco UCS booth are at the center of all the action.. We have two cool demos. One of these demos features the Cisco UCS Storage Accelerator with Citrix XenDesktop, that showcases how performance intensive Citrix write-cache can be placed locally on the UCS Blade servers. You guessed it, this eliminates the need for expensive SAN storage. Come, learn and experience, how you can achieve 50% reduction in SAN costs, increased IOPS and all the jazz that comes with Cisco Storage Accelerator and Citrix XenDesktops.

Also catch my good colleague Ashok Rajagopalan presenting on "Deploy VDI with Higher Performance and Lower TCO with Cisco UCS". Do not miss this presentation, particularly as the outline touches the architectural approach to Cisco Desktop Virtualization, Performance Optimization with Cisco UCS VM-FEX, Manageability simplification and UCS-Nvidia GPU integration, among others. Ashok has a busy schedule at the event. His breakout session BRKVIR -2022 titled, "Transformation of server caching in Desktop Virtualization, Big Data and Database workloads" is fast filling up and I recommend you register quickly.

As a teaser , here is quick snapshot that I made at Citrix Synergy on these topics

For additional insights, check out Ashok's Video Blog on benefits of Cisco Desktop Virtualization Solutions

Also check this video from Ashok at Citrix Synergy talking about ways to accelerate the deployment :On Board Design -Simplified Design and Scalable Design

There are numerous other interesting activities featuring UCS which my colleague Girish already covered via his Blog posted on June 19, 2013. So, let's will now shift gears to our partner Citrix located inBooth 619. Citrix is a Gold sponsor at Cisco Live this year and a top partner for our Cisco Desktop Virtualization solutions. The Citrix presence at Cisco Live is centered on three major themes namely Mobility, Cloud and Mobile Workstyles.

Citrix has a big roster of demos, and a lot of devices and experts on site to "show and tell" the Wow-to-How story coupled with white-board based architectural illustrations. Make a beeline to the Citrix demo stations to see how technologies like Citrix XenMobile, Citrix NetScaler, Citrix Cloud Platform, Cisco UCS and Cisco Nexus 1000V based demos enable emerging business/IT imperatives like Mobility, BYOD and Desktop Virtualization. Don't forget to also speak to our Citrix colleagues about the recently announced Citrix NetScaler 1000v, which will be delivered on NX 1100 in the near future.

I also learned that Citrix is conducting a breakout session (BRKPCS-2024) on June 26, at 3 PM, led by Bhumik Patel on the topic, "Enterprise Mobility with Citrix XenMobile and Cisco BYOD Smart Solution". Bhumik is a great speaker, and has great insights to share on emerging BYOD andMobility trends. Citrix is also hosting mini-theater presentations every day, drawn from Citrix experts, and its partners. Do not miss the frequently repeating mini theater presentations on:

• Desktop Virtualization by Trevor Mansell
• Mobility and BYOD by Bhumik Patel
• Citrix CloudPlatform on Cisco UCS by Tim Mackey
• Networking by Chet Devchand

Citrix also has presence in Cisco Pavilion featuring Project Open Daylight, Citrix NetScaler integration with Cisco vPath and Nexus 7K, and Citrix Cloud Platform with Cisco VNMC.

Anyway, I am out of time if I am going to get this blog posted for it to be of any use. There is also some great activity in the VMware booth worth checking out. See Tony Paikeday'sblogfor details.

I am re-capping the main features I elaborated earlier

• Breakout Session -Ashok Rajagopalan, BRKVIR -2022, "Transformation of server caching in Desktop Virtualization, Big Data and Database workloads" <<Time/date>>
• Breakout Session -Bhumik Patel, BRKPCS-2024, "Enterprise Mobility with Citrix XenMobile and Cisco BYOD Smart Solution", June 26, 3 PM PST
• Demos and Theater presentations -Cisco Booth 758, June  24 -27
• Citrix Demos and Mini Theater presentations -Citrix Booth 619, June 24 -27

So much to do so little time......have a great show and let me know if you come across any Desktop Virtualization thread I did not cover here. I wish you a happy Cisco Live 2013, and hope to meet you at theCisco Booth 758