Emulex HBAs Integrated With VMWare ESX Server 3i

Emulex
Corporation announced the integration of its Host Bus
Adapter (HBA) management architecture that integrates with VMware ESX
Server 3i, the industry’s first embedded, ultra-thin hypervisor for
virtualized server environments.

Emulex’s advanced HBA management capabilities integrated with the
VMware ESX Server 3i platform will enable customers to seamlessly
configure and manage HBAs deployed in VMware ESX 3i-based servers from
the same central management point used to manage HBAs across the data
center.

"The close collaboration with VMware has enabled Emulex to develop
and demonstrate an excellent level of device management integration
with VMware ESX Server 3i," said Mike Smith, executive vice president
of worldwide marketing, Emulex. "Our ongoing innovation with respect to
the integration of virtualized servers and SANs continues to provide
our end user customers with the robust tools for open and secure
management."

Following the announcement of Emulex’s HBA management suite for
VMware ESX Server 3.5 at VMworld 2007 last September, Emulex is
providing enhanced functionality for HBA management in VMware ESX
Server 3i to deliver simple, centralized management of virtualized
servers connecting to SANs. The integration of Emulex HBA management
within VMware ESX Server 3i enables remote and local management, boot
from SAN enablement, driver configuration, firmware updates, and other
advanced management capabilities.

The VMware ESX Server 3i hypervisor is based on VMware’s
market-leading virtualization technology used by more than 100,000
customers. It’s the industry’s smallest hypervisor (32MB), making it
the most secure and reliable and the only OS-independent virtualization
platform available. VMware ESX Server 3i, embedded in server systems,
delivers full-featured single-server consolidation with fast and easy
deployment-the first virtual machine can operate within minutes of
booting a server-and the assurance of pre-configured and optimized
hardware configurations. VMware ESX Server 3i is fully compatible with
the award-winning VMware datacenter virtualization and management
solutions, supporting flagship capabilities such as live migration and
automatic virtual machine load balancing, as well as with VMware
desktop virtualization and management solutions.

For use with Emulex’s LightPulse family of HBAs, the new
standards-based Emulex HBA management architecture for VMware ESX
Server 3i is a result of close collaboration with VMware.

With VMware ESX Server 3i, customers can rapidly deploy
virtualization out of the box. The automatic configuration capabilities
provided by VMware ESX Server 3i provide detection, discovery and
intelligent-default configuration, with a menu-driven startup
experience that enables end users to go from booting the server to
running virtual machines in a matter of minutes. Additionally, those
customers attaching VMware virtualized servers to SANs may now benefit
from integrated HBA management from Emulex, providing a simpler, more
comprehensive user experience.

"Our work with Emulex includes working toward open, standards-based
device management on VMware ESX Server 3i to enhance the management
capabilities of VMware virtualization environments that include
external SANs," said Brian Byun, vice president of global partners and
solutions, VMware. "With Emulex’s new standards-based HBA management
integration with VMware ESX Server 3i, customers can quickly realize
the benefit of better interoperability, security and cost savings in
managing a multi-vendor storage and networking solution in a standard
format."

These new management capabilities will be available for use with
existing 4Gb/s HBAs and the new LPe12000 family of 8Gb/s HBAs to
provide the I/O scalability necessary to support an increased number of
applications running on VMware virtualized software. Leveraging these
new products to consolidate additional applications onto fewer physical
servers increases the benefits of VMware virtualization, such as
reduced procurement and management costs, assured business continuity
and lower power and cooling costs.

"With the ever increasing popularity of server virtualization and
its high correlation with networked storage, the majority of which are
Fibre Channel SANs, it is important to empower customers with the
connectivity tools and technology they require to efficiently and
effectively manage their virtualized server environments," said Bob
Laliberte, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Emulex and VMware are
staying ahead of the game by coupling Emulex’s HBA management tools
with VMware’s embedded, ultra-thin hypervisor, VMware ESX Server 3i,
giving customers the ability to seamlessly manage both their virtual
and physical HBA resources that are attached to SANs."

Emulex Corporation

VMware