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Network intelligence from the core to the edge
The traditional system-centric data center paradigm of the past has been rendered ineffective by new virtualization technologies and an explosion of data center growth. The practice of building separate compute, storage and network resources that are managed by separate IT teams has now become complex and costly. In response, there is a barrier to the innovation and responsiveness demanded by the current business environment.
As a result, the fundamental nature of data center computing is changing. Static pools of compute resources are being replaced by dynamically-provisioned, highly-utilized server infrastructures that can continuously-evolve in response to application and user requirements. Virtualization enables a more dynamic, flexible data center use model. In addition, data centers are rapidly expanding to meet business demands. Therefore, a service-centric model is now evolving – requiring a
Converged Infrastructure of today’s systems and processes that can rapidly adjust to meet changing business needs.
Within these demands, the existing hierarchical network designs cannot scale nor provide the performance and dynamic flexibility demanded by a virtualized data center. A new and innovative data center networking architecture is required to meet needs for greater scalability, increased performance and to fully leverage virtualization technology. Server, storage and network connectivity must be converged onto a single fabric that is more coherent, flexible, and agile than today’s ridged infrastructure.
HP is unleashing this new potential, “flattening” the conventional hierarchical network topology by transitioning to a flat, high-performance aggregation layer coupled with intelligent, virtualization-aware server edge switches. This structure is designed to complement the intelligent virtualized network interfaces offered by the latest HP data center servers and storage systems. FlexFabric combines intelligence at the server edge with advanced orchestration and management layers to enable virtualization-aware networking, predictable performance and secure, business-driven resource provisioning.
The FlexFabric architecture allows IT organizations to create a ‘wire once,’ network infrastructure. This will deliver true “networking-as-a-service” capabilities to the various consumers of connectivity within the data center. To thrive in an increasingly unpredictable economy, businesses need a data center environment with elasticity to scale and react dynamically to rapidly changing needs.
FlexFabric gives data center operators the ability to virtualize SAN and LAN connections that can migrate dynamically with workloads as they are moved across or between data centers. This operating model can dynamically scale, will match protocols to application requirements and deliver predictable latency. HP FlexFabric allows server, storage, networking, and application administrators to set governance, security, and SLA policies. HP FlexFabric will deliver the following:
- A highly scalable, modular, and converged data center fabric to support a wide variety of application and business workloads, performance requirements, and data center build-out strategies
- Cost-effective deployment models that use industry-standard building blocks as their foundation
- Comprehensive management and orchestration tools that offer seamless resource provisioning, linking network infrastructure functions to end-user and business demands
Simply put, FlexFabric will deliver a unified, flexible data center infrastructure to manage connectivity across servers, storage, and networking. This enables businesses to dynamically adapt to the demands of heavily virtualized data center architectures. HP accomplishes this by providing:
High performance, low latency fabric
Provides a large, flat network domain for ultra low latency, high performance forwarding and fast workload mobility, seamless integration with existing enterprise Layer-3 cores, high speed Ethernet capabilities, and active load balancing and link aggregation within the server edge interconnect.
Open, standards-based solutions
Interoperability among software and hardware products with seamless support for emerging industry standards (Higher speed Ethernet links, Virtual Ethernet Port Aggregation, Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and Converged Enhanced Ethernet) for fully modular, highly scalable, and cost effective networking.
Integrated management to deliver business agility
Integrated management capabilities down to the component level – including networking and virtual I/O – HP is revolutionizing data center provisioning and operation. Integrated FlexFabric management capabilities to dramatically reduce time to service and eliminate costly errors while accelerating IT alignment with business demands and goals.
HP ProCurve and
HP Virtual Connect (VC) edge connectivity technologies form the foundation of HP FlexFabric to improve performance, utilization and flexibility. For organizations who choose a more traditional data center network management and design methodology, HP ProCurve offers an optimized strategy that is seamless from the data center across the Enterprise.
Complementing Virtual Connect, HP ProCurve switches provide proven, industry-leading solutions at the data center edge to increase cost of ownership. These data center networking products include the 6600 Layer 2 and Layer 3 Top of Rack and end of row/aggregation switches. The 5400 and 8200 Layer 2/Layer 3 scalable chassis for data center aggregation, the 6120 family of blade switches at the server edge, and the new Data Center Connection Manager appliance, backed by a Lifetime Warranty. These capabilities give network administrators the power and flexibly to deploy, manage, and evolve server connectivity quickly and in line with business policy and demands.
To learn more about HP FlexFabric read the FlexFabric white paper.
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For as long as you own the product, with next-business-day advance replacement (available in most countries). The following hardware products and their related series modules have a one-year hardware warranty with extensions available: HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9300m series, HP ProCurve Switch 8100fl series, HP ProCurve Network Access Controller 800, and HP ProCurve DCM Controller. The following hardware mobility products have a one-year hardware warranty with extensions available: HP ProCurve M111 Client Bridge, HP ProCurve MSM3xx-R Access Points, HP ProCurve MSM7xx Mobility and Access Controllers, HP ProCurve RF Manager IDS/IPS Systems, HP ProCurve MSM Power Supplies, HP ProCurve 1 Port Power Injector, and HP ProCurve CNMS Appliances. Disk drives in the HP ProCurve ONE Services zl modules, HP ProCurve Threat Mgmt Services zl module, and HP ProCurve MSM765zl Mobility Controller have a five year hardware warranty. Standalone software, upgrades, or licenses may have a different warranty duration. For details, refer to the ProCurve Software License, Warranty, and Support booklet at
www.hp.com/networking/warranty.
