No; the VIO-4000 switch uses commercially available I/O adapters. The standard I/O adapter device drivers that are provided by the I/O adapter vendors execute without modifications on the servers.

No; Each server connected to the VIO-4000 switch is totally isolated from the other servers, even when they are sharing the same physical I/O adapter. If a server is infected by a virus the other servers are totally isolated and not affected.

Virtensys introduced a family of I/O Virtualization switches: the VIO-4000 series. There are two members in this series:

VIO-4001: I/O Virtualization switch that virtualizes Ethernet (LAN) and Fibre Channel (SAN) connectivity to the servers.

VIO-4008: I/O Virtualization switch that virtualizes Ethernet (LAN) and the hard disk drives (Direct Attached Storage – DAS) to the servers. The VIO-4008 includes 8 disk drive bays which can be populated and shared between the connected servers.

No; the PEC is an interface card that is installed in a standard PCIe slot in the server, providing an external server connector for the PCIe cable.

Yes; Virtensys Management Suite can be easily integrated with other management consoles using its CLI interface. SNMP alerts and events from the switch can be used to integrate with popular enterprise management consoles.

Yes; VIO-4000 switches can be deployed immediately in either a traditional (non-virtualized) server environment or in a cloud / virtualized server environment without any changes to the servers, the OS or the applications. In addition, multiple VIO-4000 switches can be connected to create a Virtual I/O cloud. Within the cloud, server I/O connectivity can be moved from one server to another server with all the associated network and storage connectivity.

Virtensys VIO-4000 series of switches enable the creation of an I/O cloud. A single domain within which the entire data center’s server I/O resources are managed as a unique entity. In this environment, any individual server’s I/O profile can be changed and dynamically moved to another server without any physical reconfiguration and without disruption to service. This allows an IT manager to dynamically provision servers and easily move an application from one server to another, thereby improving data center flexibility, manageability and agility.

The VIO-4000 series of switches support commercial off-the-shelf I/O adapters including:

• 10 Gigabit Ethernet Server Adapter - Intel
• 4G Fibre Channel - QLogic
• 6G RAID - LSI

No special software is required to use these adapters with the VIO-4000 switch; the standard I/O adapter device drivers that are provided by the adapter vendors execute without modifications on the servers. Furthermore, no special licensing is necessary.

Yes; Virtensys is continuously increasing its portfolio of supported I/O adapters by identifying and qualifying new adapters.

Provide the industry’s best price / performance and lowest energy usage for server connectivity:

• Up to 70% reduction in I/O equipment costs.
• Up to 70% reduction in I/O power consumption.

Reduce data center management costs by up to 60%:

• Reduction in server deployment and provisioning time from hours to minutes.
• Change servers’ connectivity to LAN and SAN without any physical reconfiguration.

Enhance data center flexibility and agility to respond to dynamic business needs:

• Dynamic allocation of LAN and SAN connectivity and bandwidth to servers depending on application needs.
• Dynamic repurposing of servers depending on workload needs.

Can be deployed immediately and without disruption to the existing servers, network, storage and management infrastructures:

• Doesn’t require the deployment of a new network in the data center.
• Doesn’t require any changes to the servers, OS, applications or I/O adapters.

Enhance data center reliability:

• Up to 70% reduction in the number of I/O adapters, hard drives, switch ports and cables.
• Automated and remote management processes.
• Reduction in human intervention.

Extend data center life cycle:

• Server footprint reduction.
• Increase network and storage resource utilization.
• Decrease power consumption.