HP BladeSystem Virtual Connect Interconnects

HP BladeSystem Virtual Interconnects

HP BladeSystem virtual interconnects changes how previous generations connected blade servers to the Land Area Networks (LAN) and Storage Area Networks (SAN) of enterprise IT environments. While the traditional route of connecting server blades to external networks and storage has been by means of switches and pass thru modules, these two options offer several disadvantages to an enterprise IT environment. For instance, switch interconnects tend to add more work in the form of management tasks for IT administrators, while pass thru module interconnects require many expensive cables that increase the complexity of the blade enclosure. In addition, both types of conventional interconnects require multiple people to handle what ideally should be relatively simple server tasks. And so, Virtual Connect technology was born, designing a new type of interconnect that overcomes these disadvantages and provides enterprise IT environments with a much more flexible and simple option to work with.

HP’s revolutionary Virtual Connect technology allows for server, storage and network administrators to have to spend less time coordinating their efforts, and more time focusing on their other tasks. One product within the Virtual Connect technology portfolio is the new HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology. The HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10Gb Ethernet Module is currently the only interconnect within the HP product line that supports connectivity to FlexNIC's (Flexible Network Interface Cards) on HP ProLiant C-class blade servers. The advantage that support for Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology provides is that it can reduce the amount of network hardware needed by 75% - even without adding any managed switches to the environment. Also, Flex-10 technology enables 4x the number of NIC connections per NIC port. This means that if your data center has a server blade with more than 2 NICs, than supporting Virtual Connect Flex-10 technology is a cost-effective move.