Xerox and Cisco announced today that they intend to form an alliance to simplify IT management by delivering cloud-based services and technology solutions that combine network intelligence and print.

The alliance plans to bring Xerox's managed print and cloud IT outsourcing (ITO) services to customers over Cisco's intelligent network infrastructure.

Through this alliance, Xerox and Cisco plan to make IT applications more accessible and improve efficiency for the workforce with solutions such as mobile printing .

"This relationship puts Xerox and Cisco at the center of a simplified, connected infrastructure - bringing together networking, printing and cloud services," said Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO, Xerox. "Together we?re helping businesses transition to the cloud in ways that best suit their operations, and add the services needed to enhance security and productivity for employees."

Xerox and Cisco are collaborating to deliver the following solutions:

- Xerox Managed Print Services (MPS) over Cisco Borderless Networks: consolidate IT and print management using the network?s embedded security, WAN optimization, and Internetwork Operating System (IOS) software. The combined solution monitors print technology and reduces operating costs and protects confidential data from any location with advanced mobile and cloud printing applications.

- Xerox Cloud ITO Services built on Cisco UCS and Vblock infrastructure: help users accelerate the rollout of new IT services, so they can better respond to changing needs of the workforce and reduce IT costs through a private cloud, the public cloud or a hybrid cloud environment. These cloud services from ACS, A Xerox Company include infrastructure as a service (IaaS), cloud consulting services, and private cloud deployments.

- Xerox Mobile Print Solution on Cisco virtual desktop clients and Cisco Cius: allows mobile workers to securely print business documents from any email-enabled device ? including Cisco virtual desktops clients and Cisco Cius business tablets - to any enabled printer, using Cisco Borderless Networks and Wireless LAN solutions for reliable and seamless connectivity from any location.

Today, Xerox and Cisco are working with channel partners so they can resell, deliver and manage Xerox private and public cloud services on Cisco's Data Center and Borderless Network architectures. These services, including IaaS, private cloud environments, and MPS, have been released for limited availability to Cisco channel partners. The alliance intends to provide Cisco channel partners with new ways to reduce costs and track print usage for customers, while Xerox channel partners can take advantage of Cisco Smart Services. Xerox Mobile Print can be accessed from Cisco virtual desktop clients and Cius when they are generally available.