Citrix supports HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 enabled products

Citrix recently updated their Hardware Compatibility Guides to reflect their support of Citrix XenServer 5.0 running on the HP BladeSystem G6 series of servers along with the NC532m and NC522m 10GbE Flex-10 mezzanine cards with HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 modules at full 10GbE link speed. With the growing need to reduce costs, while still improving flexibility to remain competitive, IT organizations can turn to HP and Citrix for their server and network consolidation and business continuity needs.

Many of the newly released HP ProLiant G6 blades with the latest Intel and AMD processors feature integrated 10 gigabit Flex-10 Ethernet capability that provide maximum network throughput with 8 FlexNICs and can scale to support more virtual machines. With the addition of two NC532m or NC522m 10GbE Flex-10 mezzanine cards, up to 24 FlexNICs can be enabled on these latest G6 servers. The NC532m and NC522m cards can also be used to provide Virtual Connect Flex-10 capability with other HP BladeSystem servers. Ports on the G6 series of BL460c, BL680c, BL490c, and BL495c blade servers along with the NC532m and NC522m mezz cards are HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 enabled allowing bandwidth to be allocated and fine-tuned across the ports.

Consider HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 and Citrix XenServer for your virtualization needs. The Citrix Hardware Compatibility Guide is available on their website.

HP extends and simplifies server input/output (I/O) virtualization with new and improved Virtual Connect offerings. Now 8 Gb Fibre Channel performance and able to manage up to 12,800 server connections.

HP Virtual Connect is the foundation of a converged infrastructure that simplifies your data center. Virtual Connect interconnects increase SAN & LAN utilization, improve operational flexibility and efficiency, and reduce the amount of equipment normally purchased to achieve the same input/output (I/O) capability. Now, HP is extending and simplifying infrastructure convergence even more. The new HP Virtual Connect 8Gb 24-Port FC Module offers four additional uplink connections for a total of 8 – and at higher bandwidths, with increased server side NPIV support for 255 WWNs, providing even more SAN consolidation. The new Virtual Connect multi-enclosure stacking feature simplifies interconnect management further and reduces cabling even more between up to four enclosures. The new Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager 1.30 version supports the latest models and functionality for BladeSystem and Virtual Connect, and extends the number of supported Virtual Connect domains to 200. With up to 4 enclosures per domain and 16 servers per enclosure, VCEM can now manage up the server connections of up to 12,800 servers. VCEM centralizes the management for Virtual Connect environments, enabling System Administrators to work smarter and respond quickly to workload and business demands. They enhance capabilities of the award winning Virtual Connect Architecture and complement Virtual Connect Flex-10 capabilities.

Do HP's Virtual Connect modules work with Cisco's new Nexus switches?

The answer is, yes, very well! Click here to read more.
 
VMware now supports ESX 3.5 Update 3 with HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 enabled products

VMware recently updated their Hardware Compatibility Guides to reflect their support of VMware ESX 3.5 Update 3 running on the HP ProLiant BL495c Virtualization Blade and the NC532m 10GbE mezzanine card with HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 modules at full 10GbE link speed. With the growing need to reduce costs, while still improving flexibility to remain competitive, IT organizations can turn to HP and VMware for their server and network consolidation and business continuity needs.

The HP ProLiant BL495c Virtualization Blade with its higher memory capacity and integrated 10 gigabit capability provides maximum network throughput with 8 ports and can scale to support more virtual machines. With the addition of 2, NC532m 10GbE mezzanine cards, up to 24 ports can be enabled when used in a single BL495c. The NC532m card can also be used to provide Virtual Connect Flex-10 capability (4 ports each) with other HP BladeSystem servers. Ports on both the BL495c blade server and NC532m mezz card are HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 enabled allowing bandwidth to be allocated and fine-tuned across the ports.

Consider HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 and VMware ESX for your virtualization needs. The VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide is available on their website:

IDC report: Sliced bread’s got nothing on Virtual Connect Flex-10.

HP’s new Virtual Connect Flex-10 Ethernet module is the industry’s first interconnect that flexibly allocates the bandwidth of a 10 Gb Ethernet network port across four NIC connections. This eliminates the need for additional costly NICs, switches and cables while concurrently increasing bandwidth flexibility. As a result, customers deploying virtual machines and utilizing Virtual Connect Flex-10 can realize savings of up to 66 percent in network equipment costs, save 240 watts of power per HP BladeSystem enclosure, or 3,150 kilowatt hours per year, and increase aggregate network bandwidth threefold or more compared to existing networking technologies.

Further simplifying storage and virtualization deployments for Fibre Channel storage customers, HP has enhanced its Virtual Connect 4Gb Fibre Channel module to allocate storage resources on a per virtual machine basis. Customers can assign up to 128 separate storage area network (SAN) volumes per server blade for greater performance and flexibility.

New IDC Whitepaper on TCO of HP Virtual Connect Flex-10

Realizing TCO Savings with HP BladeSystem Virtual Connect Flex-10 Technology - IDC

This IDC Report discusses how HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology can reduce management complexity, increase IT utilization, and improve the total cost of ownership (TCO). Server systems and data transfer volumes are increasing exponentially, presenting challenges to IT managers in terms of bandwidth bottlenecks and connectivity costs. IT managers face significant obstacles in their attempt to discover more cost-effective, scalable ways to deal with the increasing complexity of servers and their associated LAN and SAN environments. HP Virtual Connect technology is an interconnect option for HP BladeSystem designed to simplify the connection of blade servers to datacenter networks.
New IDC Whitepaper on TCO of HP Virtual Connect Flex-10

Click here to download the paper.

Realizing TCO Savings with HP BladeSystem Virtual Connect Flex-10 Technology - IDC

This IDC Report discusses how HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology can reduce management complexity, increase IT utilization, and improve the total cost of ownership (TCO).  Server systems and data transfer volumes are increasing exponentially, presenting challenges to IT managers in terms of bandwidth bottlenecks and connectivity costs.  IT managers face significant obstacles in their attempt to discover more cost-effective, scalable ways to deal with the increasing complexity of servers and their associated LAN and SAN environments.  HP Virtual Connect technology is an interconnect option for HP BladeSystem designed to simplify the connection of blade servers to datacenter networks.

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Read how HP Virtual Connect helps Premera grow faster and cut costs

"What can I say? VC could stand for Very Cool!!!"

- George Chmielecki, Manager of Systems Engineering, Caritas Christi

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“Together, the VMware platform and HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology can enhance the flexibility of business-critical applications and reduce the total cost of application delivery for customers. HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 helps companies fine-tune network bandwidth and enhance connectivity in virtualized environments while VMware provides a secure virtualization platform with industry-leading manageability and resiliency. This combination has all the ingredients necessary for a cost-effective, highly available application environment that provides on-demand flexibility for enterprise datacenters and cloud computing.“

- Ben Matheson, senior director, marketing, VMware.

”We’re not the only one sold on Virtual Connect with Flex-10 technology. Check out what these industry leaders are saying.

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