HP Virtual Connect customer quotes:

SunTrust
"In the past, our network administrators only had two options, each with their own compromises, to connect servers to the outside world -- either through pass-through or switches. Through HP's Virtual Connect architecture, we can wire once and manage our blade architecture from a single plane of glass. In addition, we expect to significantly reduce the burden of managing hundreds of switches and the costs of cabling."

- Tim Myers Group Vice President - Enterprise Technology Infrastructure - Platform Solutions

Cerner
"Cabling is a big issue for us. It's expensive, takes up too much space, and is difficult to troubleshoot. We looked at integrated blade switches to reduce our cabling but they have to be managed by our network services group. Virtual Connect has many of the same benefits of a switch and our networking group doesn't have to manage them."

- Tony Linville, Sr. Manager of Infrastructure Services

Nth Generation
"In today's 24x7 data centers, network administrators are tasked with uninterrupted availability while keeping licensing and administration costs in check," said Leigh Carpenter. "Through HP's BladeSystem c-Class featuring HP Virtual Connect technology, administrators can virtually eliminate administrative 'wait time' and realize valuable savings while automatically managing resources independent of server connections to network and storage resources."

- Leigh Carpenter, Senior Consultant

Sentara Healthcare
"Today, our data centre server environment, which is expected to triple over the next 18 months, utilizes both LAN and SAN switches. With HP's Virtual Connect technology for Ethernet networks and support of 10gbps uplinks, we are able to architect solutions that minimize our cable infrastructure and allow for a more efficient support environment. In addition, we can push higher LAN Port Density and low-cost ISCSI storage while saving costs on LAN Switches and data centre infrastructure resources including CRACs, power and floor space."

- Joseph Rowell, Enterprise Architect Solutions Manger

B-Source
"Our business model is based on flexibility, customer satisfaction and effectiveness. We're looking at the Virtual Connect technology to not only meet the customer requirements about speed and agility, but lower our costs for the SAN and LAN connections in the datacenter".

- Tarek Kallali, Operative Manager - IT Services OSP

Swedish Road Administration
"Virtual Connect for HP BladeSystem c-Class is better than advertised. It saves considerable administration time by including both network and fibre channel connectivity into a single interface for management of a server connectivity. The best thing of all is that the Virtual Connect functions are smoothly integrated into the c-Class' Onboard Administrator so you can start using and configure it directly out of the box."

- Gunnar Andersson, Infrastructure manager

Microsoft
"Customers are on a treadmill of complexity and cost that limits the value IT is able to deliver to the business. HP's new Virtual Connect modules with HP BladeSystem c-Class, running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, help customers operate mainstream business services more nimbly and cost-effectively, increase the manageability of their IT environment, and helps customers be more responsive to new business requirements."

- Zane Adam, director, Windows Server Division

Intel
"HP's innovative Virtual Connect architecture will extend virtualization performance and capabilities delivered through HP's BladeSystem c-class products. We are excited to see the continued innovation and focus on improving IT efficiencies and flexibility with c-class, especially when driven by Intel's Quad-Core Xeon and Dual-Core Itanium based platforms."

- Boyd Davis, GM of Intel's Server Platforms Group, Marketing

AMD
"The HP BladeSystem c-Class server blades are helping AMD take advantage of the latest HP and AMD high-performance and power-saving technologies and have enabled us to dramatically increase the density and compute power of our world-class server cluster supporting engineering design. We commend HP for developing add-on technologies to address real-world needs in the administration of large clusters and to enhance server virtualization."

- Mark Kirby, Director, Global Engineering IT

Citrix
"Growing businesses have long relied on Citrix solutions to deliver a better end user experience with lower IT costs, maximized data security and reduced network bandwidth. Now, running Citrix Presentation Server on HP BladeSystem c-Class with the new HP Virtual Connect means customers can save additional time and vital IT resources by virtualizing the connections between the servers and the network so that they can respond to ever present changes to their business environment."

- David Jones, corporate vice president, business development

Citrix® and Citrix Presentation Server™ are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

Oracle
"Grid Computing continues to gain significant momentum in the data center. Combined with HP's BladeSystem and Virtual Connect products we are helping businesses achieve their goals of being more efficient and effective. Together with HP, Oracle provides industry-leading Grid solutions that deliver superior flexibility, scalability, performance and manageability to users. Oracle is pleased to support HP's efforts to further help our customers effectively manage networking resources in a Grid environment."

- Robert Shimp, VP, Global Technology Business Unit

VMware
"VMware is very excited by the introduction of Virtual Connect from HP. Since the launch of the HP C-Class blades, customers have leveraged this virtualization-ready architecture to accelerate the adoption of infrastructure virtualization in their data centers. With the introduction of Virtual Connect from HP, customers can now expand their flexibility and ease of management across I/O fabrics and hardware. Today, VMware and HP are actively pursuing joint solutions enabled by this infrastructure."

- Brian Byun, vice president of global partners and solutions

Emulex
"Emulex Fibre Channel SAN connectivity solutions are trusted by business customers of all sizes around the globe. Now, HP Virtual Connect enables customers to leverage the best of Emulex technology when deploying an HP BladeSystem c-Class platform. Customers benefit from streamlined server and storage management practices, which simplify IT administration, increase productivity and flexibility, and lower total cost of ownership."

- Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing

QLogic
"Each time a server is added, changed or moved, it takes coordination of the storage, network and server administrators to complete the process. With HP Virtual Connect, connections and configurations between server blades and the SAN can then be deployed at the click of a button to slash provisioning and maintenance time, and improve the ability to more easily pool server resources."

- Jesse Parker, Vice President and General Manager of Switch Products Group

"Enterprises tell us about their frustrations with adding, changing or moving servers. The process involves extensive coordination between storage, network and server administrators. HP's Virtual Connect erases that frustration by making it possible for businesses to connect HP BladeSystems and SANs to the network within minutes, allowing businesses to pool server resources and focus administrators' time on other priorities."

- Jesse Parker, Vice President and General Manager of Switch Products Group