LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- VMworld -- Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX) today announced the availability of its LightPulse(r) Virtual Host Bus Adapter (HBA) technology for VMware Infrastructure environments, delivering enhanced SAN management capabilities. The Emulex LightPulse Virtual HBA technology, available for use with its 4Gb/s family of Fibre Channel HBAs, allows end users to leverage SAN Best Practices when attaching virtual servers to networked storage.
The Emulex LightPulse Virtual HBA technology for VMware Infrastructure was developed collaboratively with VMware as part of its Community Source Program and substantiates the importance and success of the Community Source approach for driving innovation for VMware Infrastructure. Additionally, Emulex LightPulse HBAs will provide the SAN Connectivity solution for a variety of technology demonstrations at this week's VMworld event in Los Angeles, Calif. Emulex is also demonstrating its LightPulse Virtual HBA technology in conjunction with VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 in booth No. 613.
Data center virtualization provides IT executives with lower acquisition costs through hardware consolidation and portability; more fully utilized compute, fabric, and storage resources; and improved efficiency and management of equipment. VMware's industry-leading infrastructure virtualization software solution allows multiple unmodified operating systems and their applications to run independently in virtual machines while sharing physical resources. Emulex LightPulse Virtual HBA technology leverages these benefits by enabling each virtual machine or guest operating system to own and access a dedicated "virtual HBA" or World Wide Port Name (WWPN), even when several virtual machines are sharing the same physical configuration management.
"Emulex has a strong footprint in the data center and is delivering a broad suite of virtualization solutions in partnership with industry leaders such as VMware. Many of the world's largest data centers rely on Emulex SAN connectivity solutions, therefore it is critical we remain ahead of the curve by delivering innovative and compelling solutions to our mutual end user customers," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing at Emulex. "An increasing number of virtualized servers being deployed today attach to Fibre Channel-based SANs, which validates the importance of our technology partnership with VMware. Working together, we are reaffirming leadership by delivering unique management capabilities that enable virtual systems to fully leverage mission-critical data access."
Emulex's LightPulse Virtual HBA technology is supported for use with VMware Infrastructure servers that use Emulex 4Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs and is fully interoperable with industry leading fabric switches from Brocade, Cisco, and McDATA. The LightPulse Virtual HBA technology will be generally available for VMware Infrastructure in the first half of 2007. By providing unique features implementing its N-Port ID Virtualization, Emulex's Virtual HBA technology enables server virtualization solutions to seamlessly deliver SAN management Best Practices, such as zoning and LUN mapping, to simplify storage administration and lower cost of ownership.
"VMware is leading the virtualization software industry, and support for products such as Emulex's LightPulse Virtual HBA technology brings valuable benefits to VMware customers that rely on Fibre Channel SANs in their configuration," said Bernie Mills, senior director of developer programs at VMware. "This capability is the result of a close relationship between VMware and Emulex and represents one of the first innovations to be delivered to the market through VMware's acclaimed Community Source Program."
Emulex, working with partners like VMware, continues to provide leadership in SAN connectivity and management for virtualized server environments. Emulex is committed to delivering data center virtualization solutions that enable our customers to evolve their systems to meet the ongoing demand for consolidation and improved utilization.
About Emulex
Emulex Corporation creates enterprise-class products that intelligently connect storage, servers and networks. The world's leading server and storage providers rely on Emulex award-winning HBAs, intelligent storage platforms and embedded storage products, including switches, bridges, routers and I/O controllers, to build reliable, scalable and high performance storage and server solutions. Emulex is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:ELX) and corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, California. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation are available at http://www.emulex.com.
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Emulex Safe Harbor Statement
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. The company wishes to caution readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Those factors include the rapidly changing nature of technology, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and enhancements by competitors; fluctuation in the growth of Fibre Channel and IP markets; changes in economic conditions or changes in end-user demand for technology solutions; fluctuations or delays in customer orders; the highly competitive nature of the markets for Emulex's products; Emulex's ability to gain market acceptance for its products; the company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the company's reliance on third-party suppliers. These and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are also discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.