QLogic FlexSuite 2600: 16Gb FC Adapter, Will Be Upgradable to 10GbE-Based CNA

QLogic Corp. continues to deliver on its Adaptive Convergence strategy with its next-generation FlexSuite 2600 Series adapters, available now through authorized QLogic channel partners.

QLogic FlexSuite ‘dual-personality’ adapters fit into current installations as a 16Gb FC adapter today and provide end-user field upgradeability to a 10GbE-based CNA in the future.

Double the Performance and Flexibility
FlexSuite adapters feature QLogic I/OFlex technology, a field-configurable upgrade available spring of next year that allows end-users to use the same hardware for 16Gb FC or 10GbE server connectivity. Unlike rip-and-replace and pay-as-you go alternatives, I/OFlex technology provides organizations with a future-proof approach to building highly agile infrastructures, protecting existing FC investments and delivering a path to network convergence.

Optimized for multitenant and virtualized environments, the FlexSuite FC adapter personality includes support for features such as virtual FC in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and priority N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV). The FlexSuite CNA personality provides 10GbE bandwidth management features such as NIC Partitioning (NPAR) combined with granular Quality of Service (QoS).

Enterprise applications running on Xeon processor E5-2600 product family-based servers along with the proliferation of SSD drives are generating increased I/O bandwidth demand and the FlexSuite 2600 Series delivers with multi-protocol hardware offload and support for PCIe 3.0. FlexSuite provides raw performance exceeding 1.2 million IOPS on FC networks. Unlike the nearest competitor, FlexSuite’s dual port architecture offers port-level isolation which provides enterprise reliability and balanced, scalable performance across both ports.

With more than eight consecutive years into FC adapter, QLogic has shipped more than 13 million FC and FCoE adapter ports. Networking stack includes pervasive support of the OS platforms and hypervisors including Windows Server with Hyper-V, VMware ESX/ESXi, Red Hat and SUSE Linux (including KVM), Solaris and Citrix XenServer.

Based on QLogic’s fifth-generation FC and third-generation converged networking technologies, the FlexSuite adapter leverages the same QLogic FC, iSCSI, Ethernet and FCoE networking stack currently qualified and shipping from all major server and storage OEMs.

Simplified Management in Virtualized Environments
FlexSuite adapters address the demands of evolving enterprises and deliver increased agility by providing the versatility to handle any protocol, any host, any storage and any fabric from a single adapter platform. Furthermore, with simplified management through common plug-ins for VMware vCenter Server and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, QLogic enables administrators to centrally monitor, manage, update and run diagnostics directly from the VM server. This simplifies management and administration by using a common tool to manage QLogic hardware and increases efficiency for the IT administrator.

"QLogic continues to deliver solutions that make it easy for our partners and customers to maximize investments in existing networks and migrate seamlessly to next-generation infrastructures at their own pace, including highly virtualized data centers and private cloud environments," said Amit Vashi, VP of marketing, Host Solutions Group, QLogic. "With the world’s largest installed base of FC HBAs, QLogic and its FlexSuite adapters represent the next evolution in high performance server-attach delivering unmatched versatility and industry-leading performance."

Five-year Warranty
Portfolio of FC, 10Gb Intelligent Ethernet and CNAs are backed by a five-year standard warranty. All branded FlexSuite adapters are warrantied for three years at purchase; customers can extend their warranty to five years at no charge by registering their adapters.

"Organizations who buy QLogic FlexSuite adapters have the flexibility to satisfy their current requirements for 16Gb FC speed, security, efficiency and backward-compatibility with today’s predominant 8Gb and 4Gb FC networks," said Matt Troka, SVP of product and partner management at CDW, a QLogic channel partner. "As they face changing business requirements that may result in the need for 10GbE-based storage or converged networks, companies already have the right adapter in place."

"Windows Server 2012 offers customers breakthrough capabilities in networking technology, and QLogic network solutions are designed to take advantage of these advances," said Sandeep Singhal, GM, Windows Networking, Microsoft Corp. "QLogic FlexSuite adapters help organizations adopt cloud computing in Windows Server 2012 environments by helping customers power native 16Gb FC storage networks or 10GbE converged networks from the same hardware."

"We are excited that QLogic FlexSuite supports the latest PCIe Gen 3 technology innovation," said Jim Pappas, director of technology initiatives, Intel Corporation. "Supporting PCIe Gen 3 enables QLogic FlexSuite adapters to take full advantage of the capabilities of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family, allowing customers increased throughput and reduced latency as a result of the 2x bandwidth provided by PCIe 3.0."

According to Crehan Research, Inc., enterprises continue to rely heavily on FC as a trusted storage technology in virtualized server environments. "Adapters that can align with today’s FC deployments and also deliver a flexible migration path to future I/O convergence options, offer a compelling value proposition," said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research.