Xsigo 2U I/O Director ($20,000)

Xsigo Systems, Inc. announced the Xsigo VP560 I/O Director, a non-proprietary virtual I/O solution designed specifically for private cloud infrastructures.

With its 2U size, cost-effective entry point, and interoperability with leading hardware and software, the VP560 I/O Director lets customers configure standardized rack-based computing architectures, or ‘pods,’ that enable the efficient delivery of scalable compute resources. Unique to Xsigo is its interoperability with leading hardware and software technologies, giving customers the freedom to create standardized solutions from the components they choose.

"With the promise of cloud computing, our customers are seeking infrastructure solutions that complement the flexibility of server virtualization and give them tangible progress towards a more rapidly configurable data center," said Lloyd Carney, CEO of Xsigo. "To do that, they needed a rack-centric I/O solution that would further facilitate their transition from just server consolidation to broader infrastructure consolidation. The VP560 I/O Director has the form factor, features, and proven interoperability that our customers need to help deploy equipment quickly, standardize management, and drive equipment utilization to the highest possible level."

Pod architectures allow businesses to deploy compute resources in consistent pre-configured racks that can be uniformly designed, built, and managed. The result is deployment times reduced from weeks to hours and standardized management across pools of servers. The Xsigo VP560 I/O Director, sized and priced specifically for top-of-rack deployment within pods, consolidates I/O and enables software management of I/O resources, thus eliminating the physical complexity and manual configuration that is found with traditional connectivity.

Andy Lark, VP and general manager, large enterprise marketing at Dell said: "Today’s economic realities have changed the way Enterprises buy and manage information technology, creating the need for systems that scale more efficiently. Xsigo’s virtual I/O, combined with Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic storage, creates a modular building block for the virtual enterprise and cloud, giving our customers a seamless way to add resources on demand. This modular, rapid deployment approach increases overall utilization and paves the path to the Efficient Enterprise."

Mornay Van Der Walt, director of technical marketing at VMware, commented: "Xsigo’s scalable virtualized I/O enables customers to configure a consistent, scale-out deployment model across various pod-based configurations on-the-fly, enabling them to adapt rapidly to whatever connectivity is needed. The new VP560 I/O Director is ideally suited for pod-based configurations and will help customers meet ongoing virtual I/O needs with a space-efficient and cost-effective solution."

Built on the same hardware and software platform as Xsigo’s VP780 I/O Director, the 2U-high VP560 I/O Director is half the height of the VP780. Both products include 24 server connections and both are scalable to larger numbers of servers via expansion switches.

Product highlights include:

• Dynamic I/O management: Deploy virtual Ethernet and Fibre channel connections to live servers
• Scalable I/O: Up to 64 virtual NICs and HBAs per server with just one cable
• 24 server ports: 20Gbps per server connection
• Four I/O module slots: Each is configurable with 10G Ethernet, 1G Ethernet, and 4Gb Fibre Channel modules
• Supports seven operating environments: VMware ESX, Windows Server, Hyper-V, Solaris, Oracle VM, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Citrix XenServer
• Broad system interoperability: Proven with X86 servers from Dell, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Oracle, and SuperMicro
• Broad storage interoperability: Proven with FC, iSCSI, and NAS storage from Dell, 3PAR, Compellent, EMC, Hitachi, HP, IBM, NetApp, Pillar Data, and XIV
• Broad network interoperability: Proven with Ethernet and Fibre Channel networking equipment from Brocade, Cisco, HP, and Juniper
• Future-proof: Add new I/O capabilities without adding or upgrading server cards and cables

"I/O virtualization and server virtualization are IT modernization catalysts that will change how IT is acquired, consumed, managed, sourced and paid for," said David J. Cappuccio, research VP at Gartner. "Done well, these virtualization technologies make fundamental changes that can lead an organization down the path of private and public cloud computing."

Configurable to the needs of both medium-sized firms, and large enterprise, the VP560 I/O Director can be deployed in either self-contained pods that house all needed resources – servers, storage and networking – or in compute-only pods that are then connected to data center network and storage resources.

Pricing and Availability
The VP560 I/O Director is immediately available, and is priced at $20,000.