TMCnews Featured Article

Xsigo Systems, a technology company for data center I/O Virtualization, has announced that Avaya (News - Alert), a provider of enterprise communications systems, has successfully deployed Xsigo virtual I/O as part of a recent virtualization deployment that supports the company's software development teams.

Xsigo virtual I/O connects any server to any network or storage device, without the limitations of cards, cables, and switch ports. Reduce capital expense by 50 percent, ensure application performance, and get 100X faster moves, adds and changes.

Virtual I/O helps to meet the project's server utilization and continuous uptime objectives that would help to accelerate the company's engineering efforts. Xsigo virtual I/O allowed the company to run twice as many virtual machines per server.

“With design centers around the globe, our software developers need continuous server uptime and fast application response,' said Jay Leone, lab manager for Avaya, in a release. 'Xsigo virtual I/O exceeded our expectations by giving us scalable connectivity and 40Gb I/O bandwidth to each server, which allowed us to build in both the redundancy and performance we need to deliver a great user experience.'

The company deployed multiple Xsigo VP780 I/O Directors to provide connectivity for their virtualized server environment that also includes Dell (News - Alert) PowerEdge 1950 and R610 servers, VMware ESX software, and Fibre Channel-attached storage.

'We need to give our engineering users the experience of using a dedicated server when in fact they are on a virtual machine,' Leone added. 'Traditional I/O had limitations that hampered server performance and availability. Even with eight ports per server, it was difficult to meet our service level objectives. With virtual I/O, we can re-think our use of virtualization, deploying up to 18 virtual I/O ports per server to ensure isolation, performance and redundancy. Because it's virtual I/O, we need only two PCI (News - Alert) slots per device, so we can use compact 1U high servers to save cost, space, and power.'

Benefits of Xsigo I/O Director include scalability with up to 64 connections per server (1GE, 10GE, and Fibre, performance with up to 80Gbps bandwidth to each server; flexibility with dynamic connectivity management without server reboots; and simplicity with 70 percent fewer cards, cables, and switch ports.

'Xsigo virtual I/O improves every operations metric, including performance, uptime, and cost,' Leone said. 'With 40Gbps bandwidth to each server, and all the connections I need, I can now run twice as many virtual machines and achieve much higher utilization, all while providing my users a better experience. I look forward to further expanding my deployment on the Xsigo platform.'