BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. is teaming with Emulex Corp. and NetApp at Storage Networking World to showcase the industry's first public demonstration of a blade server-based Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) unified fabric.

The demonstration shows that the "loss-less" I/O required to carry Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) storage traffic within blade architectures is now possible using products based on the emerging standards for Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), an enhanced version of Ethernet for data centers. 

BLADE is working closely with Emulex and NetApp to deliver FCoE products that consolidate the number of networks in tomorrow's data centers. The demonstration shows that BLADE's CEE-capable 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches, Emulex's Converged Network Adapter products and NetApp Ethernet storage provide the loss-less I/O necessary to support FCoE in a blade server environment. BLADE is a pioneer in developing advanced high-performance Ethernet I/O infrastructure products and its CEE-capable switching products will enable widespread adoption of FCoE SANs and also greatly enhance Ethernet in the data center across a wide range of traffic types from networking and storage to clustering.

"FCoE is a rapidly evolving T11.3 standard to transport Fibre Channel storage data over reliable Ethernet networks and enable the convergence of storage, networking and clustering onto a single, cost-effective fabric," said Mark Hudson, Chief Marketing Officer at BLADE Network Technologies. "BLADE, Emulex and NetApp have teamed up to ensure that data centers deploying FCoE as part of a unified data center I/O strategy can realize key benefits, such as increased performance, greater data center density, lower capital and maintenance costs and lower energy and cooling costs, ultimately resulting in a lower carbon footprint."

Emulex, a leading supplier of Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs), recently introduced its family of Converged Network Adapters which are designed to support the FCoE protocol. Emulex CNAs benefit from many of the same features and capabilities associated with its LightPulse family of HBAs and leverage a common driver architecture across both product lines. Emulex's enterprise-proven products and management solutions are trusted by data center managers worldwide.

"The broad deployment of blade servers is driving strong demand for networked storage, and Emulex is uniquely positioned to address SAN expansion with its LightPulse connectivity solutions. We are pleased to collaborate with BLADE to showcase the industry's first FCoE-based blade solution," said Ameesh Divatia, senior vice president and general manager, Intelligent Network Products, Emulex Corporation. "Emulex CNAs combine LAN and SAN connectivity and provide end users with a multi-protocol solution that helps reduce data center complexity, management costs and power consumption."

NetApp is an active participant in the development and marketing of the FCoE standard. NetApp is in a unique position through its unified, multi-protocol architecture to deliver the promise of network unification through Ethernet storage, enable the consolidation of multiple transport protocols into a single infrastructure, and continue to enhance traditional FC storage investments.

"This demonstration shows the depth of industry support and how rapidly FCoE is evolving to be an enterprise-ready solution that will enable customers to consolidate their networking and storage networks to a single easy to manage, loss-less fabric," said Patrick Rogers, Vice President of Solutions Marketing at NetApp. "As the first storage system to support native FCoE in a technology demonstration at last Fall's Storage Networking World, we are delighted to be working with pioneering companies like BLADE Network Technologies and Emulex in this area."

BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. (BNT)

NetApp

Emulex