BLADE s new VMready is Secure, Efficient and Easier so enterprise IT architects can automate networks for dynamic migration of live virtual machines...

SANTA CLARA, CA, January 27, 2009 BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. BLADE , the trusted leader in data centre networking, announced that its 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet switches can now be equipped with VMready the first network virtualization solution that automates the enterprise data centre for dynamic live migration of virtual machines VMs .

Data centre architects can use BLADE s VMready switches to overcome network-based obstacles. The inability for security policies to move in concert with the VM is inhibiting broader adoption of server virtualization in the enterprise data centre. VMready watches the Virtual Machine environment to ensure that when a live VM moves from one physical host to another, the destination network has been prepared in advance preserving essential security, access and performance policies.

In order to fully realise the benefits of server virtualization, dynamic migration of workloads is required, said Joe Skorupa, Research Vice President, Enterprise Network Services and Infrastructure, Gartner, Inc. To enable this environment, the underlying network must be able to automatically reconfigure itself to ensure that the appropriate polices and resources are in place before a VM is moved to a new host.

BLADE s VMready is designed to automate VM migration by ensuring that the wrong Quality of Service QoS settings do not choke the application, the wrong Virtual LAN VLAN does not prevent the application from connecting to the network, and the wrong Access Control Lists ACLs do not compromise network security. As a result, data centres can harness the promise of virtualization, enabling applications to securely scale up for high availability or scale down for energy efficiency.

Until now, primarily due to security and manual workload concerns, enterprises have been understandably wary of enabling their production application workloads for mobility and live migration in virtual machine environments, said Dan Tuchler, Vice President of Product Strategy and Management, BLADE Network Technologies. BLADE s VMready Ethernet switches work with leading hypervisors to enable a virtualization-enriched network that is not jeopardized by security vulnerabilities as virtual machines migrate, does not introduce performance bottlenecks and is easy to manage without continual manual intervention.

With more than 90 percent of enterprises using server virtualization for consolidation and 10 Gigabit Ethernet now affordable for mainstream adoption, BLADE s VMready switches provide a Secure, Efficient and Easier pathway to the live server mobility required in a dynamic data centre environment:
Secure: Dynamic migration of network security policies as workloads shift.
Efficient: Automatic scale-up of application capacity and dynamic rebalancing to optimise server utilization for high availability and disaster recovery.
Easier: Massive scalability, performance and management advantages in data centre networks consisting of thousands of network ports.

BLADE Network Technologies is offering a very sensible solution to a very complex networking problem with VMready, said Joe Clabby, President of Clabby Analytics. Moving virtual machines can be tricky and fraught with security problems. BLADE has found a way to simplify the VM migration process while ensuring that critical applications remain secure.

VMready is part of BLADE SmartConnect switch-resident software that runs on BLADE s 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet switches. Alternative approaches require a server-resident virtual switch that adds server CPU overhead and only works in certain VMware environments. BLADE s VMready switches will work with all leading server virtualization offerings and releases, including Citrix s Xen, Microsoft s Hyper-V and VMware.

Using blade server systems equipped with BLADE s 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet switches and BLADE s SmartConnect switch virtualization software with VMready, enterprise data centres can deploy virtualized applications and services that can migrate dynamically across a secure, highly available infrastructure. Here s how VMready works:
Discovers virtual machines as they become active on the network and monitors them to detect the start, middle and end of a VM migration event
Automatically enforces network settings on the physical destination server to match the original configuration
Supports virtual machine migration across a blade chassis, rack or group of racks
Interacts with management consoles for added management visibility and control
Appears to the administrator as a single stackable network switch.

Pricing and Availability
BLADE s VMready is available now as part of the SmartConnect software upgrade to new and previously installed BLADE switches. VMready is included with BLADE s 1 10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch for IBM BladeCentre Part number: 44W4404 as part of IBM s Virtual Switch Extensions. VMready will be available for BLADE s RackSwitch
top-of-rack data centre switch products in mid-2009.