Verari Systems and Xsigo Systems, Inc. announced the industry’s first high-density blade solution that offers fully virtualized network and storage connectivity. Available immediately and sold through Verari Systems, the new solution integrates Verari’s BladeRack 2 X-Series computing platform with Xsigo’s VP780 I/O Director to deliver up to ten times the I/O connections per blade as compared to other solutions available in the market today. By offering the industry’s highest compute and I/O density, Verari and Xsigo are providing IT managers with the capacity to deploy twice as many virtual machines per blade and double data center efficiency.

“Blade systems are an ideal complement for server virtualization,” said Mark Bowker, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “When you add dynamic virtual I/O to this mix, it takes the value of the entire back-end to a whole new level, compounding all the benefits each derives independently. This kind of packaged functionality is exactly what is required to make the ‘virtual data center’ a reality. When you boil it down, these are root capabilities to make everything from Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to ‘utility’ computing to ‘greening up’ the data center legitimate and not just marketing hype."

Today more than ever, IT managers recognize the return on investment that is associated with purchasing energy-efficient technologies. The Verari and Xsigo solution supports green IT by increasing compute density, enabling complete lights-out management, and allowing users to run more virtual machines per blade. Server I/O infrastructure may be reduced by 70 percent, while overall data center efficiency is increased by 100 percent.

“The increasing demand for Web 2.0 applications in the enterprise is driving unstructured data at more than 100 percent growth,” said Dan Gatti, senior vice president of Marketing, Verari Systems. “These applications require more storage and I/O connections, and as IT managers virtualize more servers, system performance is stressed. By working together, Verari and Xsigo are providing the best solution available on the market to address the requirement of high density computing and I/O and redefine the standard in enterprise computing.”

With up to 32 storage connections and 64 network connections per blade, the new solution allows server I/O to be configured, managed, and migrated system-wide from a single console. The joint solution provides instantly managed connectivity to Verari storage systems, allowing administrators to remotely configure connectivity from any blade to any storage device in seconds. With virtual I/O from Xsigo, IT managers can provision I/O resources on-the-fly without disrupting network and storage configurations, and without physically entering the data center. Xsigo consolidates the I/O infrastructure and replaces physical network and storage interfaces such as NICs and HBAs with virtual resources that are manageable from a single console. I/O configuration can now be remotely managed, saving hours of time on each task.

“While server blades and server virtualization represent major efficiency advancements, the combination strains the limitations of today’s server I/O,” said Lloyd Carney, CEO of Xsigo. “Verari server and storage blade platforms and Xsigo virtual I/O help by delivering the highest compute density, and the most flexible, easily managed connections to networks and storage. With this combination, IT managers can get more from each blade and do more with the resources they have.”