The networking equipment manufacturer Cisco is expanding its worldwide network of interconnected clouds by investing $US1 billion ($A1.08 billion) and adding international partners.
Deutsche Telekom, British Telecom (BT), Japanese system integration company NTT DATA and US data centre provider Equinix among others have joined Cisco by linking hundreds of data centres and cloud providers around the world in a network with more than 30 partners.
The move expands Cisco's global cloud computing network by 250 additional data centres in 50 countries, the Silicon Valley company said.
The network, called Intercloud, lets businesses process and manage data generated from billions of devices and applications around the world while addressing customers' requirements for a secure cloud platform, Cisco said.
Cisco's president of development and sales Rob Lloyd praised the Intercloud and said it would "unlock the full potential of cloud, and with it a new era in IT".
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Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.
Based in San Jose, California, the company designs, manufactures and sells networking equipment.
