QLogic enables HP FlexFabric

QLogic® NetXtreme II Ethernet controllers are at the core of HP’s latest Virtual Connect FlexFabric adapters and deliver the industry’s highest performing Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iSCSI connectivity available1. This announcement represents the first new product and technology arising from QLogic’s recently acquired Broadcom Ethernet assets. QLogic Fibre Channel switching technology is embedded in HP’s latest Virtual Connect FlexFabric modules, which also support FCoE and iSCSI traffic. The combination of leading QLogic technologies in the HP FlexFabric architecture creates a high-performance, 20Gb Ethernet fabric ideal for data center convergence and virtualization.

Industry-leading QLogic technology in the HP FlexFabric architecture offers IT administrators simplified, scalable and automated connectivity for virtualised computing, converged storage and data through a common fabric. 20Gb Ethernet connectivity provides HP FlexFabric customers with optimum bandwidth for maximising data and storage networking performance.

“More than ever, enterprises are demanding flexible IT solutions that can grow and change to match their business needs,” said Vikram Karvat, vice president of marketing, QLogic. “Building on our long tradition of developing custom connectivity solutions for HP platforms, QLogic is now delivering the utmost in flexibility for HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric environments with industry-leading Ethernet and Fibre Channel technology.”

QLogic’s NetXtreme II Ethernet controllers enable the HP FlexFabric 20Gb 2-port 630FLB Adapter and the HP FlexFabric 20Gb 2-port 630M Adapter. These adapters provide 10Gb or 20Gb Converged Ethernet connectivity to HP BladeSystem servers. Leveraging HP’s Flex-20 technology, these new adapters efficiently deliver twice the bandwidth of a 10Gb port, while reducing the management overhead associated with multiple 10Gb adapters. Both adapters offload FCoE and iSCSI traffic, eliminating software overhead and reducing CPU cycles for improved performance, while simplifying server-to-networked storage connectivity.

QLogic switching technology enables the new HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric-20/40 F8 Module for c-Class BladeSystem. The new module more than doubles the throughput of previous generations with 20Gb downlinks and provides eight flex ports that can be dynamically configured to support Ethernet, Fibre Channel, iSCSI or FCoE. QLogic’s flex ports enable HP’s Virtual Connect wire-once technology to deliver the simplest method to connect servers and storage to the network, while new 40GbE uplinks in the FlexFabric-20/40 F8 module speed traffic from server-to-core.

“In order to meet the accelerating demands for speed, agility and efficiency, customers are demanding new and innovative compute and fabric solutions,” said Jim Ganthier, vice president, Global Marketing, HP Servers Group, HP. “HP and QLogic are delivering industry-first solutions that will enable our customers and partners to maximize their infrastructure and successfully deliver business results both today and tomorrow.”