XSIGO I/O VIRTUALIZATION

One takeaway from VMworld 2009 for me was the need for us to move to I/O Virtualization and a converged fabric solution as our next step in virtualization. We have been evaluating several vendors: CISCO, Brocade, xSigo, etc. but the xSigo solution really caught our attention and focus. xSigo (pronounced "See-go") ran all the demos in the VMworld Both and powered 4 racks in the VMworld Data Center at VMworld 2009!

I/O virtualization is next-generation server I/O that eliminates the cable maze and lets you connect any server to any network and any storage device in seconds (even from a iPhone), entirely under software control. Instead of 8-10 Network cables and 2 FC cables for SAN you use only 2 20Gbps links (40Gbps total bandwidth) per server! In addition, 40Gbs links (80Gbps total bandwidth) per server are also available. Now that beats 10GBe by a long shot! Plus you get full QoS bandwidth controls to guarantee performance levels and they are vmotion compatible.

Your HBAs and NICS are now virtual, but not emmulation! So you never open your servers to add cards again. Profiles are used so your configuration including all MAC/WWNs can easily be moved to other hardware and you can move, add, or change connectivity on demand. Add NICS and HBAs on the fly on LIVE systems! Also, your links are Active/Active not Active/Passive like with FCoE! Configure up to 64 separate connections per server through a single cable, and manage I/O in software, not hardware. Re-purpose servers or add I/O connections in seconds, not hours. With 50% less capital cost and 70% less infrastructure we can get immediate ROI!


Novant is scheduled to begin a POC (poof-of-concept) in March. xSigo came in and worked with us on designing this new virtual I/O rack and datacenter evolution for Novant. So needless to say we are really excited about our upcoming POC. We also learned that deep inside VMware there is a fondness of this solution and it is used for all the roadshow events. I look forward to sharing our experience and hopefully some video with you all!

Dell is also selling the xSigo solution. For a WebEx from dell about xSigo see this link.

For more info visit the xSigo Website or see the link below:

All xSigo Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/XsigoVirtualIO#p/u


Highlights of the xSigo solution:

high bandwidth, low latency, virtual NIC and HBA adapters--save more money than a port based solution say from CISCO

can drive 10G ethernet at line rate

can drive 4GB FC at line rate

demontrated to deliver 20Gbs from one vSphere 4 server

No need to ever touch the server again to swap cards or add cables.

xSigo Director can be upgraded for new I/O needs such as 8G FC, 40G Ethernet, FCoE, etc…

Nehalem servers can generate over 20Gb I/O traffic

Xsigo is 20G or 40G, active/active, for up to 80Gbps bandwidth

FCoE is 10Gb, active/passive

FCoE today enables only priority queuing (at least Cisco’s box does only that)

Xsigo today offers true bandwidth control on storage and network traffic

70% Less Infrastructure: cards, switches, ports, cables

no need for complexity of Nexus 1000V or the extra expense

Enterprise Plus VMware Licensing not needed

50% less capital cost than traditional I/O

30% less power consumption

QoS bandwidth controls for predictable application performance

Guaranteed bandwidth for applications or specific virtual machines.

20Gb bandwidth to each server through just one cable (two for redundancy)

Add I/O to live servers without re-booting

Single-screen view of I/O resources across all servers

1560Gbs aggregate bandwidth for fast throughput

Redundant components ensure system availability