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Virtual Fabric for IBM BladeCenter

Fast, flexible, reliable I/O that's ready for the future and fits into your existing data center

  
Overview I/O software I/O hardware I/O virtualization

Overview

When it comes to I/O, data centers face more challenges than ever before, including:

  • More layers of complexity in the data center
  • Underutilized servers and networks
  • Finite power envelope and rising energy prices
  • New applications demand more resources
  • New technologies in the data center
  • Focus on ROI and lowering costs
 
Learn More
Virtual Fabric solution brief (373KB)
Virtual Fabric announces at VMworld 2009
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IBM BladeCenter® servers and chassis, along with BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager, can help you with these challenges. But what if there was a new type of fabric that could change personalities on the fly? View demo
 
Welcome Virtual Fabric for IBM BladeCenter. This is a fast, flexible and reliable I/O solution that fits into your existing data center and offers you a new way to overcome these challenges. This new and innovative fabric can be multiple fabrics by port at the same time. For example, a single adapter and switch combination can be Ethernet, FCoE, or even iSCSI, operating at any speed from 100Mb to 10Gb. By using the virtual fabric solution, you can quadruple the number of adapters by server, while at the same time reducing switch modules by up to 75%. Build a Dynamic Infrastructure today with the Virtual Fabric for IBM BladeCenter.

Features and Benefits
 
Virtual: Multiple virtual ports and protocols (Ethernet, FCoE, and iSCSI) from a single physical port while allowing shared bandwidth across multiple applications.
  • Requires up to 50% fewer adapters and up to 75% fewer switch modules
  • Up to 45% lower energy consumption
  • Simplified cabling and management
  • Easily integrates into clients’ existing setup (virtual or non-virtual)
Fast: True line-rate 10Gb performance.
  • Faster data transfer between virtual machines (VMs) and faster backup in case of disaster recovery
  • Up to 20% more virtual machines per server when compared to equivalent 10Gb adapters.
  • Suited for a high performance environment.
Scalable: Define the EXACT number of ports needed (from 2 to 8 per adapter) and upgrade to FCoE and HW iSCSI via software key to get a combination of virtual Ethernet and virtual FCoE ports.
  • Get the exact number ports and amount of bandwidth as needed by your application
  • Upgrade to FCoE or HW iSCSI without losing your existing investment in switches and adapters
Flexible: Each virtual port operates anywhere between 100Mb and 10Gb and can run as Ethernet, FCoE or iSCSI. Both switch and adapter can work at 1Gb, 10Gb, Virtual Fabric or FCoE mode.
  • Easy transition from 1Gb to 10Gb to FCoE or iSCSI
  • Increases network utilization by allowing clients to assign the exact bandwidth needed by different applications.
Reliable: Intelligent Failure Monitoring to enable automatic failover between physical or virtual ports in an event of uplink port failure.
  • Easy recovery from failures even when operating with virtual ports. BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager not only makes management easy but also automatically moves the network settings to the spare blade.

Products and resources
 
BNT Virtual Fabric 10Gb Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter
At-a-glance guide
Ready to buy 46C7191
 
Emulex Virtual Fabric Adapter for IBM BladeCenter
At-a-glance guide
Ready to buy 49Y4235



IBM and BladeCenter are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. For a complete list of IBM Trademarks, see ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
All other products may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

 
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Virtual Fabric

Fast, flexible, reliable I/O that's ready for the future and fits into your existing datacenter

View demo

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