COSTA MESA, Calif., Jan. 17, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX), the world leader in Fibre Channel host bus adapters and embedded storage switches, today announced a new Fibre Channel HBA designed specifically for IBM eServer BladeCenter environments. The LP1005DC is a dual channel, high performance SAN connectivity solution designed for use within the IBM BladeCenter, and is fully driver compatible with Emulex's entire line of market-leading HBAs, enabling end users to migrate seamlessly to IBM BladeCenter solutions. The Emulex LP1005DC is qualified for use with the IBM HS20 and HS40 BladeCenter products in Windows and Linux operating system environments, and it will begin shipping this quarter.
"As an IBM BladeCenter Business Partner, Emulex has leveraged our design specification to develop a mezzanine HBA designed to provide high performance SAN connectivity for our market-leading IBM BladeCenter connecting to storage networks," said Jeff Benck, vice president, IBM eServer BladeCenter. "Emulex leveraged the BladeCenter open specification program to create an enterprise solution that expands the portfolio of available options clients can leverage with BladeCenter, which was a key reason why IBM and Intel opened the blade specs. The Emulex LP1005DC promises to be an integral part of our overall BladeCenter ecosystem."
With over 500,000 HBAs shipped into IBM server environments, Emulex is the SAN connectivity solution of choice for IT managers at leading data centers worldwide. The availability of the LP1005DC for the IBM eServer BladeCenter will enable these customers to incorporate BladeCenter solutions seamlessly into their existing SAN environments, utilizing common drivers and a familiar HBA architecture.
"The Emulex LP1005DC enables IBM customer installations that have already standardized their data centers on Emulex HBAs to continue utilizing the reliable and proven Emulex infrastructure solutions they have come to rely on - and now demand," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing for Emulex. "Utilizing the BladeCenter Open Specification enabled Emulex to control the entire design and testing process internally, which dramatically reduced our time to market - enabling the company to meet the demands of our large installed base within IBM environments. IBM's BladeCenter Open Specification program has enabled us to work collaboratively with IBM to address a critical customer need for Emulex-based SAN connectivity within the BladeCenter solution."
The Emulex LP1005DC provides a unique level of firmware flexibility and driver compatibility, enabling an easy-to-manage, scalable implementation of the IBM BladeCenter SAN solution. Built on the sixth generation Fibre Channel Thor controller for enterprise-class performance, the Emulex LP1005DC provides the same features and capabilities as Emulex's standard form factor PCI HBAs, including Emulex's unique firmware-based architecture, which allows for new features and other upgrades without requiring costly hardware replacements. The LP1005DC also provides driver compatibility with previously installed Emulex HBAs, enabling end users of Emulex HBAs in IBM installations to seamlessly migrate to the BladeCenter solution.
The Emulex LP1005DC also leverages Emulex's centralized HBA management suite, HBAnyware(tm). HBAnyware is driver-based technology that enables the discovery and complete management of HBAs within the SAN, reducing total cost of ownership and planned downtime while enabling sophisticated management capabilities such as remote firmware upgrades from a single console anywhere in a SAN.
For more information on the Emulex LP1005DC, please visit www.emulex.com.
About Emulex Emulex Corporation is the world leader in Fibre Channel HBAs and delivers a broad range of intelligent building blocks for next generation storage networking systems. Emulex was named one of Forbes Magazine's 25 Fastest Growing Technology Companies, and ranked number 15 in Deloitte & Touche's 2003 Technology Fast 50.
The world's leading server and storage providers rely on Emulex HBAs, embedded storage switching and I/O controller products to build reliable, scalable and high performance storage solutions. The Emulex award-winning product families, including its LightPulse(tm) HBAs and InSpeed(tm) embedded storage switching products, are based on internally developed ASIC, firmware and software technologies, and offer customers high performance, scalability, flexibility and reduced total cost of ownership. The company's products have been selected by the world's leading server and storage providers, including Dell, EMC, Fujitsu Ltd., Fujitsu Siemens, Groupe Bull, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, Engenio, IBM, NEC, Network Appliance, Quantum Corp., StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Xyratex. In addition, Emulex includes industry leaders Brocade, Computer Associates, Intel, McDATA, Microsoft and VERITAS among its strategic partners. Corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, California. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation are available at http://www.emulex.com.
EMULEX -- We network storage
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. The company wishes to caution readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Those factors include the rapidly changing nature of technology, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and enhancements by competitors; fluctuation in the growth of Fibre Channel and IP markets; changes in economic conditions or changes in end-user demand for technology solutions; fluctuations or delays in customer orders; the highly competitive nature of the markets for Emulex's products; Emulex's ability to gain market acceptance for its products; the company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the company's reliance on third-party suppliers. These and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are also discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q.