Xsigo was a Silver Sponsor at VMworld 2010, where VMware utilized the I/O Capabilities of Xsigo to optimize the VMware Express, VMware Demos and more. While there Xsigo announced an Ethernet-based version of its award-winning Xsigo I/O Director, the industry's first virtual I/O technology to leverage the standard Ethernet ports found on every x86 server. The new technology helps customers drive enterprise efficiency – both OPEX and CAPEX – by connecting servers to every data center resource via a single conventional Ethernet server port. Unlike alternative approaches such as FCoE that require costly add-on cards, Xsigo's new approach can deliver a complete end-to-end converged connectivity solution for less than $500 per server, or about 1/3 the cost of a converged network adapter (CNA) card alone.The new Xsigo I/O Director allows customers to:
"This announcement marks a quantum leap forward in data center efficiency. Now the vast population of x86 servers deployed worldwide can be aggregated into private clouds of highly efficient, interchangeable resources, simply using the connectivity they already have," said Lloyd Carney, Xsigo's CEO. "With Xsigo virtual I/O, all IT managers can now converge infrastructures via standard Ethernet – the most common data connection on the planet – and capitalize on the next great wave of business innovation afforded by the private cloud."Installs In Minutes The new product installs in just minutes by connecting a server's Ethernet port to the Xsigo I/O Director. Customers then install drivers to their server. Server I/O consolidation and management can begin immediately. The Ethernet-based Xsigo I/O Director employs the same hardware and software platform as Xsigo's proven InfiniBand-based I/O Director, which is deployed in more than 100 enterprise data centers worldwide and is demonstrated compatible with software and hardware from VMware, Microsoft, Citrix, Dell, HP, IBM, Hitachi, Oracle, EMC, NetApp, Cisco, Brocade and many others.
Strategies to Optimize Virtual Machine Connectivity with Xsigo Virtual I/O - by Scott Hanson - Dell Techcenter (download PDF)
$5 Billion. That’s how much data center managers will overspend on server I/O in 2009. For each server, the cost of connecting to networks and storage can exceed $10,000. And operations costs can double that expense over three years. This webcast demonstrated how to cut those costs IN HALF while getting more performance and more management agility at the same time. The hidden costs of server I/O - Limits on server virtualization imposed by I/O - How I/O restricts server choices Traditional I/O was designed for static data centers. Inflexible and expensive, it segments resources and limits data center efficiency. This webcast discussed next-generation Virtual I/O solutions from Xsigo and Dell that let you do more with the equipment you have. Although this webcast is no longer available, contact Xsigo to learn how Virtual I/O can streamline your server I/O with: 70% fewer cards, cables, and switch ports - 30% less power consumption - 50% less capital expense. Ask how Xsigo and Dell have worked together to create rack and blade server solutions that let you dynamically configure up to 64 network and storage connections to each server, deliver 40-80Gb/s of bandwidth to each server, and use QoS controls to deliver I/O performance exactly where it is needed. All at 50% less cost than conventional I/O.
I/O Unplugged - Read the latest conversations about Virtual I/O Notable BlogsAnalyst Names Three Reasons to Deploy Virtual I/O - posted Oct 27, 2009
Virtual I/O vs. I/O Fabric Technologies - the distinction between “fabric” and “virtual I/O” becomes important. - posted Oct 23, 2009 Three Ways Virtual I/O Helps You Get More from VMware vSphere - posted Oct 16, 2009
This approximately 10-minute technical overview shows the Xsigo solution in action on Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers utilizing the VMware vSphere virtualization infrastructure.