COSTA MESA, Calif., Feb. 27, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX) today announced the results of an evaluation report by Demartek, a firm specializing in independent analysis and lab validation testing of server, storage and security technologies, that compares the ease of installation and use of Emulex's HBAnyware(r) management software against a competing solution from QLogic(r) Corporation. Emulex HBAnyware is a powerful HBA management suite designed for efficient, scaleable administration of enterprise-class SAN connectivity. The Demartek report found that overall, Emulex HBAnyware was easier to deploy and use in large storage environments and has a more complete set of features than QLogic SANsurfer(r) FC HBA Manager, especially for setting detailed control and diagnosis of HBAs.
"Demartek's independent analysis reinforces the compelling benefits of HBAnyware for our enterprise-class customers. We designed HBAnyware to streamline HBA management within large scale storage-attached environments, which ultimately saves our end user customers both time and money associated with managing and upgrading SAN connectivity," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing for Emulex. "HBAnyware centralizes HBA management and automates key administration tasks to ensure SAN Best Practices are leveraged across the entire data center."
HBAnyware has several key advantages, which eases deployment and provides more comprehensive management of host bus adapters, ultimately reducing total cost of ownership for large-scale enterprise users. IT professionals don't have time to spend deploying, installing and configuring each HBA. With HBAnyware these processes are streamlined and can be automatically deployed across all HBAs in the SAN. In addition, HBAnyware provides more complete and intuitive tools for troubleshooting and administration that allow end users to optimize their SAN environment. Key highlights of the Demartek report include:
- Deployment: Emulex HBAnyware arrives pre-packaged with its
LightPulse family of HBAs and is easily installed with the
driver, in the span of a few mouse clicks rather than the
ten steps required to install QLogic SANsurfer FC HBA Manager.
- Installation: HBAnyware installation was accomplished in
under two minutes and no reboots were required with minimal
interaction with the administrator. Testers felt the Emulex
technique of preloading the entire HBA software stack
simplifies batch deployment of a common image to a large
numbers of servers.
- Configuration: HBAnyware was easier to configure by
performing discovery in-band by default, with the option of
out-of-band discovery. The automatic and immediate discovery
of all Emulex HBAs in the local server and those visible in
the FC SAN from that host is accomplished without any manual
intervention.
- Administration: Day-to-day administrative tasks using
HBAnyware, such as firmware updates and diagnostic tests,
are easier to find and deploy than with QLogic's
implementation. Key differentiators include HBAnyware's
event logging function and the ability to set parameters
across any or all servers without the need to reboot the
server.
- Troubleshooting: HBAnyware has several settings that can be
changed under the "Driver Parameters" tab including queue
depth and coalesce response count, along with a description
of the feature and the range of allowable values, which is
a benefit to administrators who may need a reminder for the
many parameters that can be adjusted. There is no equivalent
function in the QLogic product.
"Overall, Demartek found that Emulex's HBAnyware was easier to use, more intuitive and required fewer steps to perform most functions," said Dennis Martin, president of Demartek. "We felt that HBAnyware lends itself to scaling out to large environments, as many functions are visibly present for the easiest installation and management of large numbers of HBAs."
Emulex's HBAnyware simplifies storage networking management and reduces planned downtime by allowing HBAs to be independently and uniformly configured and managed. This contributes to lowering the total cost of ownership. These capabilities provide end users with critical time -and cost-savings, especially when leveraged in large-scale enterprise environments with thousands of SAN-attached servers, multiple operating systems or numerous data centers.
Emulex HBAnyware and QLogic SANsurfer(r) FC HBA Manager underwent testing at Demartek facilities, using two identical servers running Windows 2003 Server R2 Enterprise Edition. The full evaluation results can by viewed at www.demartek.com.
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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"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.