INDUSTRY

System p to Provide Enterprise Class Platform that Delivers Full Benefits of 10 GbE Performance for Virtualization, Consolidation and Capacity-on-Demand Requirements -- Neterion, Inc., an industry leader in the 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter market for server and storage environments, today announced that IBM System p products will feature Neterion’s Xframe II Ethernet adapters designed to deliver the benefits of the PCI-X 2.0 Double Data Rate. This is the second line of enterprise class of IBM systems using Xframe II. In October, 2005 IBM began using Neterion’s PCI-X 2.0-based adapters for its System x server line. Both lines are now shipping Xframe II in volume to end-user customers. “With this announcement, IBM is uniquely positioned to offer a complete line of UNIX and LINUX-based enterprise class servers that take full advantage of the performance offered by 10 Gigabit Ethernet,” noted Dave Zabrowski, President & CEO of Neterion. “And this is a significant accomplishment for our company as Xframe moves into the heart of the data center to support the delivery of mission critical applications.” During the qualification process, Neterion met all the rigorous standards set by IBM System p, passing successfully hundreds of hours of technical tests designed for the most demanding business-critical applications. Neterion was selected for superior technical features and performance, best-in-class quality and operational excellence, volume-ready manufacturing capabilities, management team expertise and solid financial position. The IBM System p5 and eServer p5 server platforms running at 10 GbE speeds feature 64-bit systems that include Linux and AIX 5L operating systems. Numerous applications can benefit from these levels of performance and features including storage backup, transaction processing, web publishing, data mining, systems management, video streaming and cluster computing. Avnet Partner Solutions, an industry-leading, value-added distributor and provider of enterprise servers, storage, software and services, is part of the Avnet Technology Solutions operating group of Avnet, Inc. “As a key distributor for IBM’s System p servers, Avnet and its partners are in a unique position to understand the importance IT managers are placing on virtualization, consolidation and capacity management,” noted Sara Jensen, vice president, IBM Product Marketing of Avnet Partner Solutions. “Adding 10 Gigabit Ethernet line rate performance will help our partners provide a complete solution that is high-priority for their enterprise customers. At our industry-leading Business Partners Innovation Center (BPIC), we are looking forward to working with our solution providers to demonstrate the value of 10 Gigabit Ethernet.”