Emulex Partners With Leading 10Gb/s Ethernet Companies To Help Customers Through The 10Gb/s Ethernet Transition

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emulex Corporation today announced that it is partnering with leading 10Gb/s Ethernet companies to develop joint solutions that help customers make the transition from 1Gb/s Ethernet to 10Gb/s Ethernet, so they can reap the benefits of network consolidation and convergence. Emulex and its expanded partner ecosystem, including Arista Networks, BLADE Network Technologies (BLADE), Extreme Networks, Force10 Networks, Ixia, Juniper Networks and Voltaire, are collaborating to solve the challenges inherent in major technology transitions and to educate the market on the benefits of converging Local Area Networks (LANs) and Storage Area Networks (SANs) onto 10Gb/s Ethernet.

"In every market segment partnerships across the ecosystem is a strategic requirement," said Steve Daheb, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of business development, Emulex. "In the 10Gb/s Ethernet market we've been working closely with leading partners to grow and expand the capabilities of 10Gb/s Ethernet for IP, iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and create a unified management and value-added services framework with our partners."

A recent study published by IT Brand Pulse found that 52 percent of IT managers feel that the transition to 10Gb/s Ethernet is necessary because 1Gb/s Ethernet no longer provides enough performance. The drivers for migration to 10Gb/s Ethernet are led by the demands of server virtualization, followed by next generation virtual IO solutions from leading blade server OEMs' virtual IO solutions, such as HP Flex-10, IBM Virtual Fabric, Dell and Cisco UCS, and increased use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) (voice and video) that requires quality of service features that are inherent to 10Gb/s Data Center Bridging (DCB) Ethernet adapters.

"It's not a question of 'if' end users will move to 10Gb/s Ethernet, but 'when.' End users know they'll need 10Gb/s Ethernet technology and almost half are already investigating its deployment in their data centers," said Frank Berry, chief executive officer, IT Brand Pulse. "These IT managers view the move to 10Gb/s Ethernet as an architectural issue and they need help making the transition and developing a clear, long-term migration plan."

In order to solve these challenges, Emulex and its partners are collaborating on integrated solutions and educational tools, such as Convergenomics - The Guide to Network Convergence Solutions, which is a comprehensive introduction to network convergence. Emulex and its partners published the fourth edition of this book today. Convergenomics - The Guide to Network Convergence Solutions offers IT managers a resource to help them craft their next-generation network strategy and explains how to converge protocols, such as Fibre Channel and iSCSI, onto a 10Gb/s Data Center Bridging (DCB) Ethernet backbone. We're also working closely with partners to architect new typologies and solutions that put the promise of consolidating networks within reach of busy IT managers.