A fully configured SANbox 9000 now provides SAN administrators with up to 256 8Gb switch ports, plus all the rack density and performance needed to support hundreds of server and storage nodes - including blade servers and virtual machines. SANbox 9000 business development will be focused on small to medium enterprises (SMEs), where the product has a proven track record of benefiting SAN administrators who need an affordable, long-term solution to build large fabrics.

"I plan to deploy 8Gb Fibre Channel on my SANbox 9000 to speed up replication of business data and to improve the performance of my video editing applications", stated Ramy Katrib, chief executive officer, DigitalFilm Tree. "I also expect to deploy 16Gb Fibre Channel in the future as I continue to consolidate my I/O intensive applications onto blade servers."

"Small to medium enterprises are building large fabrics that require the port density, stability and manageability of a bladed chassis switch. However, these businesses are extremely price-sensitive and are looking for a cost-effective alternative to large directors", stated Brian Garrett, technical director, ESG Lab. "We've tested the SANbox 9000, and with a modular design to accommodate future technologies plus leading edge performance, ESG is confident that the SANbox 9000 gives SMEs the value they need."

The new I/O blade may be deployed non-disruptively by existing customers in their current chassis alongside previous-generation 9000 Series blades. Featuring sixteen 8Gb ports per unit, the 9008V is backward-compatible with 4Gb and 2Gb legacy devices, allowing old and new customers to migrate smoothly and cost-effectively to higher SAN speeds. The 9008V release will also provide full support of the next-generation internet standard (IPv6), along with enhancements to the product's existing call-home functionality. All the new SANbox 9000 functionality is designed to enhance application performance and availability while preparing customers' infrastructure for future technologies such as storage and server virtualization.

"With the introduction of the 9008V blade, the SANbox 9000 is a great enhancement to the QLogic family of 8Gb Fibre Channel solutions", stated Jesse Parker, vice president and general manager, QLogic Network Solutions Group. "This highly versatile platform supports our long-term vision to give SME customers the essential enterprise-class storage networking features they need to build scalable, large fabrics."