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Emulex Eyes 'Sexy' SSDs: Page 2 of 4

Emulex execs explained that customers are currently testing their SSD bridge offerings, with the technology likely to be available later this year or sometime in 2009. Future versions of this bridge offering will make SSDs look like SATA drives, although Emulex won't divulge specifics or timeframes.

The biggest hurdle in the path of SSD technology (and therefore Emulex’s bridge offering) remains the cost of flash memory, despite EMC’s somewhat controversial claim that flash could achieve price parity with high-end rotating Fibre Channel drives by the end of 2010.

Emulex’s Whitson cleverly side-stepped this issue during today’s analyst event by playing up the energy-saving capabilities of SSD technology.

”It’s not about when flash SSDs reach the same price point as rotating media; it’s a different calculation,” he said. “[SSDs] require 38 percent less energy than rotating disks.”

Emulex execs at today’s event in Manhattan also discussed their plans for FCOE. ”We have already started shipping our first FCOE cards,” said Jim McCluney, the Emulex CEO, explaining that the converged networked adapters are already finding their way into a handful of financial users. “They are already being tested in some of the most demanding data centers in the world, some of which are on this island.”