We have all sent the rise of virtualisation in both the Linux and Windows environments, we try to get the most utilisation from the smallest footprint of servers, reducing hardware costs, power and management overhead. As the density of servers grows and the data usage for the servers and the storage infrastructure increases we are moving from two to four to six and maybe eight NICs per server with separate LAN and SAN/NAS gigabit or 10 gigabit switches.
A new area is the virtualization of the I/O infrastructure, Virtensys provide an alternative to the switches cables and NICs by using a virtual LAN and storage solution with a PCI-E card providing 40Gb of throughput to a top of rack appliance. This provides a high performance and cost effective alternative, with a clear path for future development.
