Emulex 16Gb FC HBAs for HP

Emulex Corporation announced the availability of the HP LPe1605 HBAs for new HP BladeSystem C-Class Servers, based on its LightPulse Gen 5 (16Gb FC) FC HBA technology.

The LPe1605 enables better storage performance for IO/s and bandwidth-intensive cloud and storage-intensive applications.

“Today’s data centers need higher performing and lower latency storage to remove bottlenecks and improve workload performance, especially as the majority of traditional workloads will transition to the cloud in 2014,” said Shaun Walsh, SVP marketing and corporate development, Emulex. “The new HP LPe1605 HBAs based on the latest Emulex LightPulse technology enable better storage performance for IO/s and bandwidth-intensive cloud and storage applications with double the storage throughput and up to 75% lower latency than previous FC solutions (1).“

LightPulse Gen 5 FC HBA technology – the basis for the LPe1605 HBA – delivers increased SAN reliability, manageability and simplicity, as well as application acceleration and higher throughput for virtualization and mission-critical applications.

Key features of the HP LPe1605 HBAs include:

• Gen 5 FC Connectivity: The LPe1605 HBA delivers more than 1.2 million IO/s on a single port, (2) and up to 6x greater IO/s per port than the previous generation, enabling better storage performance for cloud and storage intensive applications. Power efficiency is also improved by delivering up to 4x better IO/s per watt of power (1)
• Increased Throughput and Low Latency: The LPe1605 HBA provides twice the throughput and up to 75% lower latency when compared to current 8Gb FC adapters without sacrificing CPU efficiency (1). Support for PCIe 3.0 provides a faster I/O bus, more PCIe lanes and increased I/O bandwidth and delivers performance for applications – such as virtualization and cloud solutions – by matching the performance capabilities of HP ProLiant Gen8 architecture, based on the Xeon processor E5-2600 v2 product family.
• Simplified and Centralized Management: As with all LightPulse FC HBAs, the LPe1605 is managed with Emulex OneCommand Manager, which enables enterprise scalability with time-saving features that provide more than twice the adapter management functionality and take half the time to install and manage compared to other I/O solutions (3). OneCommand Manager plug-in for VMware vCenter Server allows users to manage Emulex adapters across hundreds of servers natively from the VMware vCenter Server console. The LPe1605 also integrates with HP Storage Essentials (SE) and System Insight Manager (SIM).

“Our customers are looking for a storage solution to increase overall productivity of IT resources and application performance, and reduce application latency due to storage bottlenecks. The new HP LPe1605 HBA improves latency and achieves high performance IO/s, without sacrificing CPU performance,” said Paul Durzan, VP, enterprise server business, HP. “With seamless integration into HP Storage Essentials (SE) and System Insight Manager (SIM), and support for the HP ProLiant Gen8 ProActive Insight architecture, the HP LPe1605 HBA is ideal for customers’ current and future data center environments.“

(1) Demartek, Emulex LPe16000B 16Gb FC HBA Feature Comparison, December 2012
(2) Demartek Emulex LPe16000B 16Gb FC HBA Evaluation, October 2012
(3) Based on Emulex Labs benchmark testing