ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Sept. 28, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QLogic (Nasdaq:QLGC) today announced it has extended its Adaptive Convergence™ strategy by introducing a new portfolio of innovative products, including adapters, switches and routers with the flexibility to power 16Gb Fibre Channel or 10Gb Ethernet converged networks from the same hardware. QLogic's newest solutions are designed to help companies smoothly transition their data center networks at their own pace, and provide the versatility to handle any protocol, any host, any storage and any fabric, empowering virtualized enterprises and cloud computing environments with complete fabric freedom.
QLogic's Adaptive Convergence strategy extends proven Fibre Channel investments while simplifying the migration path toward converged highly virtualized IT environments. The new complete portfolio of solutions delivers unparalleled, "any-to-any" connectivity for service-based IT environments and allows service providers to unleash the full potential of cloud computing.
"By building TCP/IP, iSCSI, FCoE and native Fibre Channel all into a complete portfolio, we are enabling enterprises and cloud computing service providers to create networks without having to worry about future migration paths," said Simon Biddiscombe, president and chief executive officer, QLogic.
QLogic's new data center family of solutions improves performance and reduces complexity and lowers operational and capital costs, while easing future design concerns. The cohesive end-to-end Adaptive Convergence strategy lays the foundation for a highly responsive, agile enterprise environment. OEMs, enterprises and cloud service providers can enhance the value of their network solutions and eliminate the tradeoff between today's legacy networks and future migration concerns while spending less time on typical day-to-day IT challenges.
In separate announcements, the company announced details of its new FlexSuite™ adapters, Universal Access Point™ switches and next-generation intelligent Storage Routers (iSR). Based on QLogic's third-generation converged networking and fifth-generation Fibre Channel technologies, QLogic® FlexSuite adapters have the flexibility to power both native 16Gb Fibre Channel and 10Gb Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) networks.
Featuring the company's exclusive flexible port (flex port) technology, QLogic's Universal Access Point™ switches give servers instant access to all of today's most advanced storage and converged networking capabilities, allowing customers to connect Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), 10Gb Ethernet or iSCSI devices to any port. QLogic iSR routers will allow cross-protocol routing for 16Gb Fibre Channel, 10GbE/1GbE iSCSI and 10GbE FCoE, multi-protocol host connectivity to storage systems, SAN-over-WAN connectivity for business continuity and disaster recovery, as well as comprehensive enterprise data migration solutions, providing flexible support for cloud computing – private, public and hybrid.
Analysts Comment on QLogic Adaptive Convergence Strategy
Dell'Oro Group
"The 10Gb Ethernet market continues to expand and converged platforms are beginning to gain traction in the market," said Alan Weckel, Ethernet switch analyst, Dell'Oro Group. "While we are still very early in the migration towards 10Gb Ethernet for server connectivity, data center deployments including 10Gb Ethernet top-of-rack for server access are driving most of the revenue growth in the market."
ESG
"QLogic's latest, highly scalable portfolio provides an excellent cost-to-performance ratio for Fibre Channel customers while at the same time enabling organizations to seamlessly adopt network convergence in the future," said Bob Laliberte, senior analyst from ESG. "With the ability to handle any protocol, at any port the new QLogic platform is highly versatile with the capability to reduce costs and complexity in the data center."
Evaluator Group
"OEMs, enterprises and cloud service providers are in an evolution of network convergence. A clear migration path to highly virtualized and cloud architectures establishes a leading position in the industry," said Randy Kerns, Senior Strategist from Evaluator Group. "QLogic's new product portfolio with the versatility to handle any protocol, at any port, across three product families provides customers with needed capabilities in the transition to virtual and cloud computing environments."
Gartner
"While 10GbE-based converged networks continue to evolve as a viable solution for organizations to reduce power, costs and overall IT footprint, many data centers have invested heavily in Fibre Channel's performance and reliability advantages, now enhanced by 16Gb bandwidth," said Sergis Mushell, principal research analyst, Gartner. "Folding 10Gb Ethernet and 16Gb Fibre Channel under one, common technology platform helps protect customers' legacy investments while allowing them to adopt 10Gb Ethernet-based solutions in a non-disruptive manner, at their own pace."
IT Brand Pulse
"Enterprise IT wants a smooth on-ramp to converged networks which will one day connect to the cloud, and that means protecting their investment in Fibre Chanel SANs," said Frank Berry CEO, IT Brand Pulse. "With the ability to support 16Gb Fibre Channel and 10Gb Ethernet on the same network, new QLogic adapters and switches will play a key role in extending Fibre Channel's position as the dominant SAN technology for another five years."
Storage Strategies Now
"We are excited about QLogic's highly scalable product portfolio as they provide a superior cost-performance solution today for Fibre Channel customers while at the same time establishing a clear path to cloud IT architectures of the future," Deni Connor, founding analyst from Storage Strategies NOW. "The versatility to handle any protocol, at any port reduces complexity while significantly lowering costs and enabling more flexible, agile fabric delivery."
Wikibon
"One of the biggest complaints we hear from Wikibon practitioners is that they need to buy and support separate hardware for Fibre Channel SAN infrastructure," said David Vellante, chief research analyst at Wikibon.org, an IT think tank. "This announcement from QLogic takes a major step to eliminating this problem because going forward, customers can acquire infrastructure that speaks the language of both Fibre Channel and Ethernet. This is especially important in virtualized and cloud environments where standard configurations need to be rapidly replicated and provisioned. Rather than having to determine which storage protocol will be used, customers can deploy infrastructure that will support any application independent of storage technology including Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NAS or FCoE."
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About QLogic
QLogic (Nasdaq:QLGC) is a global leader and technology innovator in high performance networking, including adapters, switches and ASICs. Leading OEMs and channel partners worldwide rely on QLogic products for their data, storage and server networking solutions. For more information, visit www.qlogic.com.
Disclaimer – Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements relating to future results of the company (including certain beliefs and projections regarding business trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied in the forward-looking statements. The company advises readers that these potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: unfavorable economic conditions; potential fluctuations in operating results; gross margins that may vary over time; the stock price of the company may be volatile; the company's dependence on the networking markets served; the ability to maintain and gain market or industry acceptance of the company's products; the company's dependence on a small number of customers; the company's ability to compete effectively with other companies; the complexity of the company's products; declining average unit sales prices of comparable products; the company's dependence on sole source and limited source suppliers; the company's dependence on relationships with certain third-party subcontractors and contract manufacturers; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; sales fluctuations arising from customer transitions to new products; seasonal fluctuations and uneven sales patterns in orders from customers; a reduction in sales efforts by current distributors; changes in the company's tax provisions or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of its income tax returns; international economic, regulatory, political and other risks; facilities of the company and its suppliers and customers are located in areas subject to natural disasters; the ability to protect proprietary rights; the ability to satisfactorily resolve any infringement claims; uncertain benefits from strategic business combinations; declines in the market value of the company's investment securities; environmental compliance costs; changes in regulations or standards regarding energy use of the company's products; difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry process technologies; the use of "open source" software in the company's products; and computer viruses and other tampering with the company's computer systems.
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