Xsigo Announces Survey Results

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Xsigo Systems, Inc., the technology leader in data center I/O virtualization, today announced the results of a recent survey that sought to better understand server input/output (I/O) requirements when using server virtualization in todays data centers. Responses from more than 100 IT staff members at Fortune 5000 companies using server virtualization expressed concern for the server connectivity challenges they currently face.

This survey revealed that IT managers encounter significant cost and cabling issues when configuring connectivity on servers running virtualization software. Compared with traditional servers, virtualized servers are being configured with more connections, and those configurations are being changed more frequently – two factors that significantly drive up costs. Growing at nearly 41% per year, server shipments in support of virtualization are expected to reach 1.7 million units annually by the year 2010, according to IDC research.

Current I/O infrastructure in the data center was designed for traditional server usage, not virtualized server implementations that are currently on the rise. Because users often prefer dedicated connectivity for individual virtual machines, servers frequently require additional I/O. A simple problem, like having a server with six I/O ports when seven is needed in order to accommodate virtualization capabilities, can add significant capital and labor expenses to a data center.

The Xsigo survey’s most significant finding is that server virtualization significantly increases connectivity requirements: 75% of virtualization users configure seven or more I/O connections per server, compared to two to four connections for a server running without virtualization software. Because virtualized servers run more applications and operate at higher levels of utilization than conventional servers, they are more likely to encounter I/O bottlenecks. As a result, there is an increased need for more I/O connections, to the extent that configuring server I/O for virtualized servers frequently exceeds the cost of the server itself.

Xsigo Systems Inc.