Emulex Provides 8Gb FC HBAs for HP

Emulex Corporation announced that its LightPulse 8Gb/s Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) are optimized for use with the new HP BladeSystem Matrix, an out of the box, pre-integrated platform that creates pools of server, storage, power and network capacity that can be divided and allocated across up to 1000 physical or virtual servers. The Emulex LPe1205-HP 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBA (mezzanine card) is also available for use with HP BladeSystem c-Class and server blades, including HP ProLiant G6 and HP Integrity blades with support for HP-UX 11i, Linux, VMware, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems.
 
Emulex LightPulse 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs provide end user customers with the increased performance, I/O bandwidth and the scalability necessary to support next generation data centers. Emulex 8Gb/s storage area network (SAN) connectivity solutions also support the new HP Virtual Connect 8Gb Fibre Channel module and the HP StorageWorks EVA4400 Fibre Channel array.
 
"Emulex 8Gb/s HBAs provide greater transaction rates and more effective CPU utilization than other market offerings and are best positioned to handle the mission-critical and I/O-intensive applications of next-generation data centers," said Steve Daheb, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of business development, Emulex. "Emulex works closely with HP to deliver best-in-class connectivity solutions that meet the demanding requirements of transaction-intensive databases and server virtualization environments."
 
Leveraging Emulex 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBA technology with HP BladeSystem Matrix provides customers
with a wide range of capabilities, including:

• Bandwidth that supports more virtual machines (VMs) per server than other solutions. Emulex 8Gb/s HBAs maximize the performance improvements and power savings offered by the new HP servers.
• Comprehensive virtualization capabilities with support for N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) and Virtual Fabric, enabling HP Virtual Connect users to leverage SAN management tools and best practices at the VM level, including fabric zoning and LUN mapping/masking.
• Enterprise scalability and flexibility through support for Message-Signaled Interrupts eXtended (MSI-X), offering end users greater CPU efficiency, reduced system latency and improved I/O throughput – all of which contribute to increased blade server performance and reduced power consumption.
• Common driver model, which allows a single driver to support all Emulex HBAs on a given operating system, lowering administrative costs and speeding server deployment.
• Investment protection and seamless integration into existing SANs through backwards compatibility with Emulex 4Gb/s and 2Gb/s Fibre Channel devices.

"Customers can achieve faster services delivery, improved asset utilization and simplified infrastructure planning with the HP BladeSystem Matrix," said Mark Potter, senior vice president and general manager, ESS Infrastructure and Blades, HP. "By working together with converged networking leaders such as Emulex, HP offers customers the opportunity to achieve more flexible and efficient networked environments."
 
Emulex HBAs are managed using HBAnyware, a secure, automated and centralized enterprise management platform that can be used in conjunction with HP Virtual Connect Manager to seamlessly deploy and manage Emulex HBAs in virtualized or non-virtualized server environments.
 
Emulex LightPulse HBAs and mezzanine cards are supported across a range of HP storage arrays and servers, including the HP ProLiant, HP Integrity and HP StorageWorks array families.