Emulex Corporation announced that its LightPulse family of 8Gb/s host bus adapters (HBAs) are now supported in Oracle VM server virtualization software. With the high correlation between server virtualization and storage area networks (SANs), Emulex 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs deliver the I/O bandwidth necessary to accommodate the storage networking traffic brought on by enterprises deploying virtualized servers based on Oracle VM.

"Emulex is working closely with Oracle to deliver industry-first capabilities for enterprise-class data centers, such as data integrity, support for Virtual HBA technology and 8Gb/s Fibre Channel SANs," said Mike Smith, executive vice president, worldwide marketing, Emulex Corp. "Leveraging Emulex 8Gb/s HBAs, customers can utilize twice the performance of today's products, providing the I/O scalability necessary to support increased numbers of applications running on Oracle VM-based virtualized servers, which helps reduce management, procurement, power and cooling costs."

Emulex is also working with Oracle on industry-standard N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) support to help ensure Emulex's LightPulse Virtual HBA technology and Oracle VM work well together. Emulex Virtual HBA technology enables customers to effectively 'virtualize' SAN connections so that each virtual machine has independent access to its own protected storage. In addition, the companies are working to deliver an enhanced end-to-end data integrity protection solution as part of the Data Integrity Initiative with LSI and Seagate. As part of this initiative, Emulex LightPulse HBAs feature Emulex BlockGuard technology to ensure the integrity of user data as it is transferred from the application to the SAN. BlockGuard leverages and extends the T10 DIF standard to enable complete end-to-end data integrity for enterprise storage systems.

"Oracle VM delivers a comprehensive, enterprise-class server virtualization solution and extends our ongoing dedication to providing customers with solutions that help increase the efficiency of their IT infrastructures," said Monica Kumar, senior director Linux, Oracle VM, and Open Source Product Marketing, Oracle. "By choosing Emulex 8Gb/s HBAs for SAN connectivity in Oracle VM environments, customers benefit from enhanced security and data protection features needed to meet the demanding requirements of virtualized servers in the data center."

Emulex LightPulse 4Gb/s and 8Gb/s HBAs have also been selected by Oracle to provide SAN connectivity for Oracle's Enterprise Technology Centers (ETCs). As part of the ETCs, Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel HBAs will be used to support in-depth customer workshops, proof of concept tests, hosted demonstrations, and custom testing and consulting. Customers who visit the Oracle ETCs can see first-hand, Oracle software running with Emulex HBAs in a real-world testing environment where customers can evaluate technology purchase decisions, particularly those looking to shift upstream to 8Gb/s technology.

Now Emulex supports its entire family of LightPulse Fibre Channel HBAs for use with the Oracle software stack - including Oracle VM server virtualization software. As a member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork and one of the first Fibre Channel HBA vendors to support the Oracle Unbreakable Linux Program, Emulex is a leading SAN connectivity provider for Oracle environments. Emulex and Oracle continue to offer enterprise-class products that provide mission-critical interoperability, comprehensive support and innovation.