ORLANDO, Fla., April 8, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Storage Networking World -- Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX) today introduced its LightPulse(r) LP21000 family of converged network adapters (CNAs), which enable both network and storage traffic to be combined onto a single Unified Fabric. Utilizing a 10Gb/s Enhanced Ethernet network, Emulex's LP21000 family is designed to support the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol that converges Ethernet-based LAN and Fibre Channel-based SAN connectivity. Available this quarter, Emulex's family of LP21000 CNAs enable reduced data center complexity, management costs and power consumption.
Customers deploying Emulex LP21000 CNAs benefit from many of the same features and capabilities associated with the Company's award-winning LightPulse family of Fibre Channel host bus adapters, such as fully qualified, OEM supported drivers based on a common architecture that spans both product lines. Providing a common driver architecture allows end users to seamlessly integrate Emulex FCoE-based CNAs into existing data centers using the same software infrastructure across the SAN.
"Emulex's approach to FCoE promises to deliver the convergence that data center managers require to streamline operations and reduce overall total cost of ownership. Enabling our customers to use a common architecture across both CNAs and HBAs provides a seamless migration path for deploying next generation FCoE connectivity solutions," said Ameesh Divatia, general manager and senior vice president, Intelligent Network Products, Emulex Corp. "Our goal is to preserve and leverage the substantial investments our customers have made in Fibre Channel technology and SAN management tools, while delivering the next generation products necessary to help transform their data center infrastructures."
Additionally, Emulex is working with an ecosystem of partners to bring interoperable FCoE-based solutions to market. For example, Emulex is collaborating with Cisco to help ensure broad interoperability of the LP21000 family of CNAs and the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series of switch products. Emulex is also working with its OEM partners on product qualification and support.
"FCoE can help deliver a seamless path for data center managers looking to converge multiple fabrics to help streamline operations in an effort to consolidate their environments onto a single network," said Barbara Robidoux, vice president of storage marketing, EMC. "EMC is working with partners like Emulex to help ensure the optimization benefits ultimately translate into increased efficiency and lower costs. One of the ways to lower costs is to help preserve customers' existing investments, which is one of the key attributes of Emulex's approach to a common architecture."
Trends such as server consolidation, convergence and virtualization are key drivers for increased SAN deployments. With FCoE, customers may now leverage the ubiquity of Ethernet to converge both storage and networking traffic, improve overall efficiency and simplify the infrastructure. Designed to natively transport Fibre Channel traffic over the Ethernet network, FCoE will take advantage of lossless Ethernet in the data center. A lossless Ethernet fabric provides the level of performance and reliable delivery of data required for enterprise storage environments.
"Working with an ecosystem of leading vendors such as Emulex, we expect FCoE to provide customers with a compelling next-generation solution that fits within their existing SAN environments and preserves their current data center investment," said Soni Jiandani, vice president of marketing at Nuova Systems, a majority-owned subsidiary of Cisco. "Cisco and Emulex share a vision to help customers migrate to technologies like FCoE that provide a solid return on investment, while taking advantage of existing data center investments in both Ethernet and Fibre Channel."
"Enterprises face a number of difficult challenges as they strive to simplify their data centers through converged networks. They need solutions that allow them to protect their investments in key mission critical and business critical applications," said Richard Villars, vice president of storage systems research, IDC. "Solutions like Emulex's new FCoE-enabled products that protect enterprises' investments in existing tried and tested driver architectures will play a critical role in helping companies deploy more scalable and efficient data centers."
Emulex is teaming with Cisco to demonstrate FCoE products within the Emulex booth at this week's Storage Networking World in Orlando, Fla., Booth 308.
About FCoE
FCoE is designed to provide an efficient storage protocol for use on a Unified Fabric within the data center. The end user benefits associated with FCoE include consolidated management and connectivity, which will lower operating costs and protect customers' existing Fibre Channel infrastructure investments. For more information on Emulex's FCoE products, visit http://www.emulex.com/products/fcoe/index.jsp.
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.