Broadcom Demos ‘In Box’ 10GbE iSCSI HBA Solution for VMware vSphere 4.1

Broadcom Corporation announced the first 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) iSCSI / 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) iSCSI host bus adapter (HBA) and boot solution to be supported ‘in box’ in VMware vSphere 4.1.

Broadcom’s iSCSI solution provides twice the input/output operations per second (IOPs), twice the bandwidth and twice the CPU effectiveness when compared to network interface cards (NICs) without iSCSI HBA capabilities. Additionally, it frees resources that can be utilized to enable the creation of even more virtual machines (VM) on the vSphere 4.1 platform. This high performance iSCSI HBA solution was demonstrated using Broadcom’s NetXtreme II 10GbE converged network interface controller (C-NIC) at VMworld 2010.

Broadcom also demonstrated its enhanced BCM57712 10GbE C-NIC that supports SR-IOV technology. SR-IOV technology accelerates networking traffic by directly connecting physical hardware to VMs, reducing CPU utilization and creating greater network and application performance.  

Highlights/Key Facts:

The 10GbE server market is experiencing quick growth due to server virtualization and the need to push more networking traffic. iSCSI HBA and networking virtualization technologies accelerate storage and networking traffic while reducing the load on the server CPU to enable greater scalability and performance.

Broadcom’s 10GbE C-NIC with iSCSI HBA functionality has been shown in multiple environments to deliver an unprecedented industry-leading performance of over one million IOPs.

Demonstrating a commitment to deliver the most advanced networking and storage technologies in a virtualized server environment, Broadcom provided key demonstrations atVMworld 2010 show in San Francisco:

Broadcom’s 10GbE iSCSI HBA solution, which supports VMware’s vSphere 4.1 platform with the following capabilities:

• Is the only full iSCSI ‘in-box’ solution that supports vSphere 4.1 and provides full iSCSI HBA and iSCSI boot support for vSphere 4.1 deployments without the need for software driver updates or changes.
• Provides complete on-chip processing of iSCSI traffic.
• Frees server CPU resources with increased bandwidth on vSphere 4.1 which can be utilized not only to enable more virtual machines on a server, but also for better application performance in VMs. High performance applications deployed in the enterprise, the cloud and in data centers that use VMware vSphere 4.1 within virtual machines also benefit from the additional freed resources.

Broadcom’s 10GbE BCM57712 C-NIC solution, which supports SR-IOV virtualization technology with the following capabilities:

• Faster speeds (through a reduction in CPU utilization) allows for more virtual machines and better application performance.
• Allows for easier migration from 1GbE to 10GbE and enables lower capital and operational costs through infrastructure consolidation.

Broadcom’s iSCSI HBA and iSCSI boot functionality are available today on Broadcom NetXtreme II 10GbE and 1GbE C-NICs.

Parag Patel, Vice President, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware, said: "VMware has worked closely with Broadcom on key I/O virtualization technologies to offer joint customers innovative storage and networking solutions as they continue on the path toward IT- as- a-service. These innovations complement the ground-breaking work already achieved with the 10GbE and 1GbE iSCSI HBA and iSCSI boot solution for the VMware vSphere 4.1 platform."

Vinod Lakhani, Senior Director & General Manager, Broadcom’s High-Speed Controller line of business, said: "Broadcom is leading the way in providing ‘in box’ iSCSI drivers and enhanced iSCSI management that significantly improves ease-of-use and offers a more reliable iSCSI feature set that is qualified by both Broadcom and VMware. iSCSI has been the preferred storage protocol for virtualized server environments within the enterprise and cloud data centers. Broadcom’s C-NIC solutions with iSCSI  functionality greatly improve storage performance within virtualized deployments and free CPU resources, a benefit of significant importance to customers building highly scalable public and private cloud infrastructures."