Xsigo Systems today announced that Avaya, a global leader in enterprise communications systems, has successfully deployed Xsigo virtual I/O as part of a recent virtualization deployment that supports the company's software development teams. Virtual I/O was seen as critical to meet the project's server utilization and continuous uptime objectives that would help to accelerate the company's engineering efforts while reducing costs. Compared with alternative solutions, Xsigo virtual I/O allowed the company to run twice as many virtual machines per server while delivering continuous uptime.
Avaya is a leader in voice and data communications services, with over 16,000 employees and 2,300 research and development professionals worldwide. The company's communications applications, software, and services helps enterprise customers simplify complex communications systems and integrate technologies from other vendors. This virtualization project consolidated and streamlined the management of servers used to design and test applications software.
"With design centers around the globe, our software developers need continuous server uptime and fast application response," said Jay Leone, lab manager for Avaya. "Xsigo virtual I/O exceeded our expectations by giving us scalable connectivity and 40Gb I/O bandwidth to each server, which allowed us to build in both the redundancy and performance we need to deliver a great user experience."
The company deployed multiple Xsigo VP780 I/O Directors to provide connectivity for their virtualized server environment that also includes Dell PowerEdge 1950 and R610 servers, VMware ESX software, and Fibre Channel-attached storage.
"We need to give our engineering users the experience of using a dedicated server when in fact they are on a virtual machine," Leone continued. "Traditional I/O had limitations that hampered server performance and availability. Even with eight ports per server, it was difficult to meet our service level objectives. With virtual I/O, we can re-think our use of virtualization, deploying up to 18 virtual I/O ports per server to ensure isolation, performance and redundancy. Because it's virtual I/O we need only two PCI slots per device, so we can use compact 1U high servers to save cost, space, and power."
Benefits achieved with the Xsigo I/O Director include:
- Scalability: Up to 64 connections per server (1GE, 10GE, and Fibre Channel)
- Performance: Up to 80Gbps bandwidth to each server
- Flexibility: Dynamic connectivity management without server reboots
- Simplicity: 70% fewer cards, cables, and switch ports
"Xsigo virtual I/O improves every operations metric, including performance, uptime, and cost," Leone concluded. "With 40Gbps bandwidth to each server, and all the connections I need, I can now run twice as many virtual machines and achieve much higher utilization, all while providing my users a better experience. I look forward to further expanding my deployment on the Xsigo platform."