NetApp has announced it will support the Intel Ethernet X520 family of SFP+10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) server adapters. This extends NetApp’s ecosystem of tested Ethernet solutions and offers customers more ways to deploy an end-to-end Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) infrastructure. Together, NetApp and Intel offer customers tested options to transition from a Fibre Channel infrastructure to a high-performance FCoE infrastructure.
10GbE unified networking provides a simple, flexible, and well-understood fabric for today’s dynamic data centers and lays the groundwork for new computing models, including cloud computing. With long histories of leadership in Ethernet storage and networking, NetApp and Intel are working together to help lead the transition to a unified data center on 10GbE. Both companies are early supporters of FCoE. NetApp is the first storage vendor to support native FCoE storage, and Intel is the first Ethernet adapter vendor to support Open FCoE (www.open-fcoe.org), which enables FCoE in standard 10GbE adapters.
“NetApp’s core belief is that unified storage helps our customers achieve business breakthroughs by giving them a universal storage solution to support all aspects of their business,” said Martyn Molnar, Regional Sales Director Middle East and Africa for NetApp. “By enhancing our product portfolio with supported 10GbE and Open FCoE products from Intel, we’re giving customers the flexibility they need to set up unified Ethernet solutions in their existing environments and realize substantial benefits in cost reduction, ease of use and efficiency.”
“It is exciting to see NetApp support Intel technology to advance 10GbE and Open FCoE and help customers consolidate their data centers,” said Tom Swinford, vice president and general manager, LAN Access Division, Intel Corporation. “The Intel Ethernet X520 family of 10GbE server adapters makes it easier for customers to move to a single platform, reduce the cost of building out, and maintain their storage network.”
NetApp unified storage supports customers’ existing Fibre Channel investments as well as FCoE, iSCSI, and NAS, allowing them to take a phased approach to consolidating their data centers around Ethernet. This single platform approach allows customers to transition their existing Fibre Channel infrastructure with new, cost-effective FCoE technology, helping them consolidate and simplify their storage infrastructure. This can reduce the amount of storage hardware customers need in their data center, which in turn can lead to significant reductions in power use and administrative overhead. By working with Intel, NetApp hopes to make it even easier for customers to consolidate around 10GbE and FCoE by working with vendor technology they already know and trust.
