MANUFACTURING

Further strengthening its leadership position in single-chip Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) solutions, QLogic Corp. today announced that NetApp has selected QLogic as the provider for single-chip converged network adapter (CNA) technology to provide native FCoE connectivity for NetApp storage arrays. In a second FCoE win, NetApp has designated the QLogic 8100 Series as a key CNA for FCoE host connectivity. Based on the QLogic Network Plus architecture, the two second-generation QLogic single-chip FCoE solutions for NetApp storage systems and qualified enterprise servers make it easier for NetApp customers to migrate to high-performance Ethernet storage for greater capital and operational efficiencies.

Specifically, QLogic FCoE connectivity is supported across a wide range of NetApp unified storage systems, including the NetApp FAS3040, FAS3070, and FAS3100 series; the FAS6000 series; the FAS2050; the V6000 series; and the V3100 series, as well as any server qualified with these NetApp storage systems.

“Today’s announcement extends NetApp’s leadership role in enterprise data center connectivity,” said Bob Laliberte, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “NetApp now has the world’s first true end-to-end FCoE SAN solution, a significant milestone in storage. With production-ready, single chip FCoE technology available across NetApp’s product line, FCoE will play a more prominent role in purchasing discussions with CIOs and data center managers. Given the challenging economic climate and that FCoE offers significant savings, these solutions have the potential for rapid adoption in the data center. QLogic and NetApp continue to set the pace in the FCoE market.”

“QLogic has taken a massive lead in the FCoE market,” said Deni Connor, senior analyst, Storage Strategies Now. “The company continues to distance itself further from its competition with a series of important design wins for its latest FCoE solutions and delivery of proven technology. Its design win with NetApp is particularly significant as it signals the converged network adapter used in all the company’s storage systems and controllers.”

QLogic 8100 Series single-chip converged network adapter technology enables NetApp customers to build end-to-end FCoE solutions while supporting existing Fibre Channel investments and taking a phased approach to consolidating data centers around Ethernet. QLogic CNAs empower customers with the ability to run both IP and FCoE traffic through the same port and on the same wire, eliminating the need and expense for separate SAN and LAN adapters and cables and ensuring greater mobility of virtual machines. The first single-chip CNA platform with an integrated, full FCoE offload engine, the 8100 Series is optimized for virtual environments, enabling faster application performance while saving precious CPU resources, which translates to higher degrees of server virtualization in the data center.

“The move to converged data and storage networks is coupled with the increased adoption of 10Gb Ethernet in the data center,” said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions Marketing, NetApp. “NetApp and QLogic are partnering to make FCoE connectivity ubiquitous in the enterprise at a time when the market is ready for a new lower-cost fabric optimized for next-generation virtual data centers. By implementing QLogic’s innovative, single-chip architecture, we are able to offer higher levels of performance across our storage portfolio, particularly in virtualized environments, for Ethernet storage.”

“NetApp needed a single integrated chip design to simplify power, space and cooling requirements in both the server and the storage system and QLogic is the only company that could deliver these tangible converged networking solutions today,” said Amit Vashi, vice president of Marketing, Host Solutions Group, QLogic. “As the world’s first single-chip FCoE adapters, QLogic CNAs handle storage and data networking traffic at full 10GbE line speeds, consume only one third the power of competitive CNA chip sets and generate far less heat. This all adds up to even better performance for NetApp’s groundbreaking first-to-market, native FCoE storage platforms.”

Based on QLogic’s advanced Network Plus Architecture, the 8100 Series is designed for next-generation, virtualized and unified data centers with powerful multi-processor, multi-core servers. Available in multiple form factors, including standard and mezzanine cards, the 8100 Series offers full certification for nearly every operating system, including Windows, Linux, AIX and HP-UX, and virtualization platforms, such as VMware ESX Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer, as well as any hardware platform from PowerPC to Nehalem. QLogic 8100 Series CNAs are optimized for both data and storage networking virtualization with superior 10Gb Enhanced Ethernet performance to handle massive quantities of virtual machines.

“The last few months have seen QLogic announcing one design win after another. With these types of wins, QLogic is gaining significant market share and by keeping this pace the company is laying the groundwork to be the dominant player in FCoE,” said Tom Trainer, president of IT consultancy Analytico, Inc. “QLogic has their pedal to the metal, and with each major achievement and announcement its competitors fall further behind in the rearview mirror. As for NetApp, today’s news puts the company in a leadership position with optimal connectivity tools.”

QLogic 8100 Series CNAs can be used with other products in the NetApp portfolio, including other CNAs, to provide customers with complete flexibility and interoperability—and products based entirely on open standards.

More information on the QLogic 8100 Series is available at: http://www.qlogic.com/Products/Datnetworking_products_landingpage.aspx

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