HDS Adopts QLogic CNAs…

QLogic Corp. announced that its 8100 Series CNAs are now available from Hitachi Data Systems and over 500 authorized Hitachi resellers worldwide.

The QLogic 8100 Series is qualified and interoperable with the Hitachi portfolio of storage systems, including the midrange Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) 2000 family and Universal Storage Platform V (USP-V) and USP VM enterprise systems.

QLogic 8100 Series CNAs reduce costs and complexity for Hitachi midrange and enterprise customers by converging their SAN and Ethernet infrastructures through FCoE. By unifying IP and storage networks for Hitachi customers, the consolidation of server adapters reduces cabling by up to 50 percent and broadens the advantages of SANs such as LAN-free backup, business continuity, improved storage utilization, better application performance and lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

"FCoE significantly reduces connectivity costs for servers by making it possible for IT professionals to use one common Ethernet network for both Fibre Channel storage and Ethernet message traffic," said Asim Zaheer, vice president, Corporate and Product Marketing, Hitachi Data Systems. "Working with key converged networking leaders like QLogic, Hitachi Data Systems now offers a broad range of FCoE solutions for our midrange and enterprise customers. Since Hitachi storage virtualization is conducted through our USP V storage controller and not in the network like many other vendors, Hitachi customers can expect a smooth transition from Fibre Channel to FCoE."

"We estimate there are $25 billion in Fibre Channel assets installed in data centers worldwide," said David Vellante, chief research advocate, Wikibon. "No CIO would rip and replace that mission critical infrastructure and FCoE provides a means of preserving Fibre Channel investments while at the same time leveraging Ethernet. Investments from companies like Hitachi Data Systems and QLogic are critical to making FCoE a cost-effective platform for storage services."

"Today’s announcement builds on our longstanding history of providing innovative storage networking solutions for Hitachi Data Systems and its customers," said Amit Vashi, vice president of marketing, Host Solutions Group, QLogic Corp. "QLogic 8100 Series converged network adapters make it easy for Hitachi Data Systems customers to transition to FCoE networks because they are built on the same, familiar Fibre Channel stack as our market-leading Fibre Channel adapters found in thousands of Hitachi installations worldwide."

QLogic single-chip CNA technology supports simultaneous storage and data networking traffic, enabling Hitachi customers to leverage the ubiquity and economics of Ethernet while preserving the investment and strengths of Fibre Channel. Based on QLogic’s advanced Network Plus Architecture, the 8100 Series is designed for next-generation, virtualized and unified data centers with powerful multi-processor, multi-core servers and is available in multiple form factors, including standard and mezzanine cards. QLogic 8100 Series CNAs are optimized for both data and storage networking virtualization with 10Gb Enhanced Ethernet connectivity to handle massive quantities of virtual machines.