Egenera Blog

Yesterday, we announced our support for VMware Infrastructure 3 support on the Egenera BladeFrame. What’s the big deal, as everyone supports VMware today?

The big deal is the combination of the best-in-class server virtualization from VMware combined with the best-in-class I/O virtualization from Egenera. That combination is very powerful.

Why? Because server virtualization technology is enhanced greatly by I/O virtualization. Take virtual server migration (VMware VMotion) as an example. Doing this in an environment without I/O virtualization means open-zoning SANs and/or complicated clustered file systems. Either situation can create configuration and security nightmares. But, add a secure I/O virtualization environment and these problems go away. Storage devices can now follow the virtual server, meaning no need for open-zoned SANs or clustered file systems. Much more manageable and much more secure.

That’s just one example of where the combination is a win-win for customers. Another area is the ability to manage physical and virtual servers in the same system. With PAN, physical servers can be deployed, managed, failed-over, and easily set up for disaster recovery. The same is true with VMware Infrastructure 3 and virtual machines. Combining the two gives the customer the best of both worlds.

This is a great announcement for Egenera customers, as it adds a key technology to our portfolio and adds greater capability for managing and securing virtual machines.