Virtual Iron Certifies Emulex HBAs in Virtual Iron 3.0
Partnership between the companies provides consistent support for SAN access in virtual environments; Virtual HBAs to provide security and reliability
LOWELL, MA, October 23, 2006 – Virtual Iron Software, (www.virtualiron.com), a provider of software solutions for creating and managing virtual infrastructure in the data center, today announced that Virtual Iron 3.0 will support Emulex Corporation’s LightPulse® Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs). Virtual Iron 3.0 provides server virtualization that enables users to run multiple virtual machines on a single physical server, often as part of a server consolidation project. Emulex HBAs provide a Fibre Channel storage networking connectivity capability that is essential to the deployment of server virtualization - especially for enterprise environments requiring high availability and automated capacity management.
"Virtualized server environments are rapidly increasing in deployment and are driving a wider use of SANs, and Emulex’s first-to-market availability of its LightPulse Virtual HBA technology within Linux operating environments further validates our commitment to driving increased value into the data center," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing at Emulex. "Support for Emulex HBAs within Virtual Iron environments ensures that end users may leverage the unique benefits of Emulex connectivity solutions, such as the ability to provide scalable performance, which is critical in virtualized servers."
Virtual Iron 3.0 makes use of a standard Emulex HBA driver in the virtualization layer that has passed Virtual Iron testing across a wide variety of SAN environments. This allows virtual machines running in Virtual Iron to access storage through a certified storage stack.
Emulex is also working closely with Virtual Iron to expand support for Emulex's LightPulse Virtual HBA technology, which was made generally available to customers last month. Virtual Iron intends to incorporate this technology in the first half of 2007. As more IT managers are looking to virtual infrastructure for consolidation, increased resource utilization and management flexibility, the Emulex LightPulse Virtual HBA technology enables each virtual machine to own and access a dedicated World Wide Port Name (WWPN), even when several virtual machines are sharing the same physical HBA. This new capability, using the industry standard N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), enables each guest to be managed independently, using SAN best practices for security and configuration management, such as fabric-based zoning and storage logical unit (LUN) mapping, even when the virtual machine is moved between physical servers using Virtual Iron’s LiveMigration™ technology.
Together with its previously announced support for virtual fabrics, the Emulex LightPulse Virtual HBA technology positions Emulex to provide key building block technologies that enhance and enable the three pillars of the virtualized data center - server virtualization, fabric virtualization, and storage virtualization.
“Users are adopting SAN storage to go beyond server consolidation and receive increased value from virtual infrastructure in advanced virtualization business scenarios such as business continuity and capacity management,” said Mike Grandinetti, chief marketing officer at Virtual Iron. “We see Emulex compatibility with Virtual Iron virtual infrastructure and the adoption of Emulex’s industry-leading LightPulse Virtual HBA technology as an enabler for virtualization that meets data center cost, security and performance objectives.”
Emulex products and technologies leverage an adaptable common architecture that extends from deep within the storage array to the server edge of storage networks. For more information on the Emulex LightPulse family of HBAs, including the Emulex LightPulse Virtual HBA technology, please visit http://www.emulex.com.
About Emulex Corporation
Emulex Corporation is the most trusted name in storage networking connectivity and a leading provider of critical building blocks for intelligent data center infrastructure solutions. The world's leading server and storage providers rely on Emulex award-winning HBAs, intelligent storage platforms and embedded storage products, including switches, bridges, routers and I/O controllers, to build reliable, scalable and high performance storage and server solutions. Emulex ranked number 19 in the Deloitte 2005 Technology Fast 50 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:ELX). Corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, California. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation are available at http://www.emulex.com.
About Virtual Iron Software, Inc.
Virtual Iron provides software solutions for creating and managing virtual infrastructure. Its software enables companies to dramatically reduce the complexity and cost of managing and operating their enterprise data center. The company delivers advanced capabilities that exploit industry standards, open source economics and processors with virtualization technology built-in. Organizations use Virtual Iron’s software for server consolidation, rapid provisioning, business continuity, disaster recovery, capacity management and policy-based automation to deliver significant improvements in utilization, manageability and agility. Virtual Iron is privately held and based in Lowell, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.virtualiron.com or email info@virtualiron.com.
