The QLogic Ethernet and 4Gb (gigabit) Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter provides two 1Gb Ethernet and two 4Gb Fibre Channel ports, QLogic of Aliso Viejo, California said. QLogic has designed the combined expansion card specifically for IBM BladeCenter, the company said. The expansion card also provides new levels of space, power and cost-saving I/O connectivity for blade server customers in large enterprises, QLogic added.
A developer of embedded SAN (storage area network) infrastructure for blade servers, QLogic is a supplier of Fibre Channel embedded switches and HBAs for blade servers. QLogic HBAs and switches provide fast, reliable and scalable storage expansion in an ultra-compact form-factor, QLogic said. Delivering performance and reliability across a range of server and operating systems (OS) platforms, QLogic offers a suite of I/O technology advancements, based on InfiniBand, iSCSI (Internet SCSI) and Fibre Channel technologies, that help storage administrators in large enterprises ensure business continuity, maintain application performance and cost-effectively scale their open-standard networks, the company added.
IBM continues to innovate and evolve blade server computing with the IBM BladeCenter platform, QLogic said. With the QLogic Ethernet and 4Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter, customers have increased flexibility of deploying Ethernet and/or Fibre Channel I/O technology, without compromising on the ease-of-use, reliability, availability and performance expected from QLogic products, the company said.
The new QLogic Ethernet and 4Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card is a key component of IBM’s Virtual Fabric Architecture, which features innovative interconnect technologies and management tools, to help customers increase speed and efficiency of data transfer across blade servers and networks, QLogic said.
IBM continues to expand the ecosystem of technologies and solutions available for BladeCenter customers, IBM of Armonk, New York said. Earlier, businesses had to choose an I/O technology at the initial deployment stage, but with the new third-generation combination expansion card built by QLogic for BladeCenter, customers can build flexible I/O networks comprised of Ethernet, Fibre Channel or both, IBM said.
The QLogic Ethernet and 4Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter is already available, and can be ordered by IBM customers as part number 39Y9306, QLogic said.
