10GbE iSCSI HBA solution for VMware vSphere 4.1 from Broadcom

Broadcom has released a 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) iSCSI / 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) iSCSI (internet Small Computer System Interface) host bus adapter (HBA) and boot solution for VMware's vSphere 4.1. This adapter is based on Broadcom's iSCSI solution and Broadcom claims that it provides twice the input/output operations per second (IOPs), twice the bandwidth and twice the CPU effectiveness when compared to network interface cards (NICs) without iSCSI HBA capabilities. This device also frees resources that can be utilized to enable the creation of even more virtual machines (VM) on the vSphere 4.1 platform. This adapter supports vSphere 4.1 and provides full iSCSI HBA and iSCSI boot support for vSphere 4.1 deployments without the need for software driver updates or changes and provides complete on-chip processing of iSCSI traffic. Broadcom's iSCSI HBA and iSCSI boot functionality are available on Broadcom NetXtreme II 10GbE and 1GbE C-NICs.

"VMware has worked closely with Broadcom on key I/O virtualization technologies to offer joint customers innovative storage and networking solutions as they continue on the path toward IT- as- a-service. These innovations complement the ground-breaking work already achieved with the 10GbE and 1GbE iSCSI HBA and iSCSI boot solution for the VMware vSphere 4.1 platform." said Parag Patel, Vice President, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware.

"Broadcom is leading the way in providing 'in box' iSCSI drivers and enhanced iSCSI management that significantly improves ease-of-use and offers a more reliable iSCSI feature set that is qualified by both Broadcom and VMware. iSCSI has been the preferred storage protocol for virtualized server environments within the enterprise and cloud data centers. Broadcom's C-NIC solutions with iSCSI functionality greatly improve storage performance within virtualized deployments and free CPU resources, a benefit of significant importance to customers building highly scalable public and private cloud infrastructures." said Vinod Lakhani, Senior Director & General Manager, Broadcom's High-Speed Controller line of business.

For more information visit: www.broadcom.com.