IBM Selects BLADE Network Technologies' Top-of-Rack Switches for IBM System x

SANTA CLARA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 06/08/10 -- BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. (BLADE), a trusted leader in data center networking, announced today that BLADE's RackSwitch 1 Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches have been selected by IBM for inclusion in the IBM System x option portfolio. BLADE's RackSwitch™ products provide enterprise data center networking capabilities for IBM System x, including IBM Virtual Fabric, BLADE's VMready™ Virtual Machine-aware networking and lossless DCB/CEE networking.

In addition to BLADE's embedded switch products, which are widely deployed Ethernet switches for IBM BladeCenter, IBM has offered BLADE's RackSwitch as an option for iDataPlex and Cluster 1350 for more than a year. IBM is now expanding the popular RackSwitch offering to make the BLADE switches available for all IBM System x servers including the best-selling x3550 and x3650 rack servers and the new eX5 enterprise systems, as well as to provide an up-stream networking solution for IBM BladeCenter.

"BLADE Network Technologies has been IBM's partner for over seven years, and we are excited about the advanced capabilities that we will now offer with the new RackSwitch product offerings," said Bob Galush, vice president and business line executive, IBM System x. "The RackSwitch products deliver superior price/performance combined with exceptional energy efficiency and are a critical part of our ability to deliver enterprise data center functionality across our entire System x and BladeCenter portfolio."

"IBM servers and BLADE switches are ideal for today's virtualized and transaction-intensive workloads, providing IBM customers with a complete data center solution," said Vikram Mehta, president and CEO, BLADE Network Technologies. "IBM Virtual Fabric, BLADE's VMready, lossless DCB/CEE networking for iSCSI and FCoE networks and advanced energy efficiency are just a few of the innovations that IBM and BLADE Network Technologies have jointly delivered for IBM BladeCenter. We are extremely pleased that this rich functionality will be available for the IBM System x with BLADE's RackSwitch products."

BLADE's RackSwitch provides enterprise data center networking capabilities for IBM System x, such as:

IBM Virtual Fabric: Virtual Fabric provides the ability to create multiple 100Mb-to-10Gb virtual connections between Emulex's Virtual Fabric Adapter and the RackSwitch to achieve consolidation, efficiency, flexibility and scalability at a low cost.

Virtualization Awareness: With BLADE's VMready software on RackSwitch, essential network policies move automatically along with Virtual Machines to maintain application performance, availability and security in virtualized data centers.

Enterprise Data Center Performance: RackSwitch delivers up to 480 Gbps non-blocking throughput, ultra low-latency of under 700 nanoseconds, extensive Layer 3 functionality including OSPF and VRRP and Active Multi-Pathing for massively scalable flat networks.

Converged Networks: RackSwitch supports the IEEE's Data Center Bridging (DCB) standards for high-performance Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) to provide a high-performance top-of-rack switch for emerging FCoE environments as well as for IP storage environments that employ iSCSI or NAS.

Low Total Cost of Ownership: RackSwitch offers low energy consumption equivalent to two standard light bulbs, server-friendly airflow, high availability features including redundant power supplies, HotLinks and Uplink Failure Detection, and simplified management through stacking and integration of BLADEHarmony Manager™ with IBM Systems Director.

Product Offerings
The BNT Virtual Fabric 10Gb G8124 RackSwitch for IBM System x is equipped with 24 SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports and ultra-low latency for virtualization, financial analytics, clusters, medical imaging, animation, VOIP, Web 2.0, iSCSI storage and other environments that require more I/O bandwidth (IBM Part Number 0446017). The BNT 1Gb/10Gb G8000 RackSwitch for IBM System x is equipped with 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks ideal for server aggregation (IBM Part Number 0446013). Products are available now from IBM.

About BLADE Network Technologies
BLADE Network Technologies (BLADE) is a leading provider of high-performance, low-latency, lossless, low-power and low-cost Ethernet switches, as well as Virtual Machine-aware network virtualization and management solutions for enterprise data centers. BLADE's blade switches, top-of-rack RackSwitch™ family and VMready™ and BLADEHarmony Manager™ software are key elements of BLADE's Unified FabricArchitecture™ (UFA). BLADE's interoperable, standards-based UFA empowers companies to simplify and virtualize data center networks; meet rising demand while reducing TCO; converge servers, storage and networks on Ethernet; and build massively-scalable cloud networks. Over 8 million BLADE switch ports are deployed at major corporations and government agencies worldwide. Visit: http://www.bladenetwork.net. Twitter: @BLADENetwork.

BLADE Network Technologies, the BLADE logo, BLADEHarmony, BLADEOS, FabricHarmony, RackSwitch, RackSwitch Solution Partner, SmartConnect, Smart Server Control, VMready, vNIC, NMotion and Unified FabricArchitecture are trademarks of BLADE Network Technologies. All other names or marks are property of their respective owners.

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