Emulex Said OneConnect UCNA (10GbE, iSCSI, FCoE) Available

Emulex Corporation announced that its OneConnect Universal Converged Network Adapters (UCNAs) and OneCommand Manager are now generally available through Emulex’s distribution channel.

Emulex’s OneConnect UCNAs provide a unique, pay-as-you-go model; the only server adapter with full hardware protocol offload support for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE); the world’s fastest 10Gb/s Ethernet performance; and the ability to efficiently consolidate network and storage infrastructures without changing management domains.  

"Emulex’s approach to network convergence is server-centric, meaning that we’re providing a single architecture and product portfolio that enables the 10Gb/s Ethernet transition for servers and virtualization. Emulex is delivering a full suite of Ethernet-based I/O products for the server that are optimized for Local Area Network (LAN) on Motherboard (LOM), blade and standard PCI Express adapter applications, going beyond just enabling storage protocols," said Steve Daheb, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of business development, Emulex. "Emulex is leading and enabling the 10Gb/s Ethernet server transition. Our unique pay-as you-go model allows end users to easily scale their infrastructures with a base 10Gb/s Ethernet network adapter and field enablement options for iSCSI and FCoE hardware acceleration, providing unparalleled investment protection and virtualized server performance."

The Emulex OneConnect UCNA is a single-chip, high-performance 10Gb/s Ethernet product platform that provides server connectivity for network and storage traffic with multi-function server adapters. The Emulex OneConnect family is available as a high-performance 10Gb/s Ethernet Network Adapter (OCe10102-N), 10Gb/s iSCSI Adapter (OCe10102-I) and 10Gb/s FCoE Converged Network Adapter (OCe10102-F). Emulex OneConnect adapters support full TCP/IP hardware offload, including TCP Chimney, and hardware offloads can be added for iSCSI or FCoE when end users are ready for network convergence.

Unlike competitive 10Gb/s network adapters and converged network adapters, Emulex’s OneConnect UCNA architecture allows end users to purchase the base 10Gb/s Ethernet network adapter, which includes TCP/IP and TCP Chimney hardware offload and outperforms any other  10Gb/s network adapter in the market today, and then enable full hardware offload for iSCSI or FCoE. As part of the Emulex vEngine technology, hardware offload and acceleration reduces server overhead and increases the number of virtual machines that can run on virtualized servers.

The Emulex OneConnect UCNA architecture allows IT administrators to converge their physical networks, while maintaining their application, server, storage and security administration domains. This allows companies to reduce their costs for adapters, switch ports, cabling, power and cooling without disrupting their current management structure or network segmentation configurations.

With the release of the OneConnect UCNAs, Emulex is delivering a new converged management application, OneCommand Manager, which supersedes Emulex’s highly acclaimed HBAnyware management application. OneCommand Manager provides comprehensive administration of Emulex OneConnect UCNAs and LightPulse Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) within a centralized, cross-platform framework. OneCommand Manager consists of a powerful suite of diagnostic tools and customizable reporting capabilities that help data center administrators optimize network performance and availability.

"Ethernet is virtually ubiquitous. Deploying an Ethernet-based unified fabric that can address the requirements of storage networking offers numerous benefits to IT administrators. Dell and Emulex are working together to make this vision a reality with Ethernet-based solutions that are easy to deploy, use and manage," said Larry Hart, WW senior manager of storage and network product marketing, Dell. "Emulex’s single-chip, high performance 10Gb/s Ethernet platform simplifies I/O choices and deployment in the data center by providing connectivity for Ethernet, iSCSI and FCoE traffic with multi-function server adapters. The introduction of Emulex’s OneConnect product family managed by OneCommand delivers upon the promise of a unified server adapter."

"Tech Data supports value-added resellers deploying data center solutions for end users of all sizes in the public and private sectors," said IT products distributor Tech Data Corporation Senior Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Pete Peterson. "New solutions like server and storage virtualization are creating substantial gains in efficiency, but they also are redirecting computing resources and adding new layers of complexity. With networking solutions like the Emulex OneConnect, value-added resellers can deploy the IT infrastructure that enables users to take full advantage of a modern, optimized data center."

"Computacenter prides itself on working with vendor partners to deliver innovative solutions and service which demonstrably reduce customer data centre costs, space, and related management challenges," said Matthew Yeager, Computacenter Practice Leader for Data Storage and Protection. "Emulex is a key partner in our delivery of storage and networking connectivity and we’re working closely with them to solve these challenges by jointly bringing network convergence solutions to the European market."

"Today’s virtualized data centers are driving increased I/O requirements and densities, particularly within blade server chassis. BLADE Network Technologies is pleased to continue our long-standing collaboration with Emulex to deliver converged networking over a lossless fabric, including our recently announced joint Virtual Fabric solution for IBM BladeCenter," said Dan Tuchler, vice president of Strategy and Product Management, BLADE Network Technologies. "Together, BLADE Rackonomics and Emulex Convergenomics offer substantial CapEx and OpEx savings to customers as they consolidate and simplify their data centers."

"Data centers are entering a new phase of ‘hyper-consolidation,’ which effects every aspect of the data center including networking with 10Gb/s Ethernet. IT managers have a primary goal of providing reliable and scalable data centers, with higher levels of availability at a lower cost point," said Lucinda Borovick, research vice president, Data Center Networks, IDC. "Network convergence, based on 10Gb/s Ethernet is one of the key solutions to help IT managers improve service levels at a lower costs. Emulex’s OneConnect UCNAs support key business and technology requirements such as pay-as-you-go pricing, CPU off-load to maximize virtualization and a unified and integrated management model."

"Network convergence makes sense. If you don’t have to have more than one network why would you? The only reason to not converge is because you have to give something up, which not the case here," said Bob Laliberte, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "The Emulex OneConnect UCNA even provides an attractive entry point with its pay-as-you-go pricing model. This type of cost management and flexibility should be well received by organizations planning their next data center refresh."