Dell FlexAddress Simplifies Blade Deployment and Management

Dell has followed on the successful introduction of its PowerEdge M-Series blade server solution with Dell FlexAddress, a patent pending tool for blade chassis virtualization and persistent identity. Dell FlexAddress is a simple, low-cost way for customers to deploy and manage blade infrastructures while reducing data center downtime. Dell FlexAddress is enabled by a special SD card for the PowerEdge M1000e Chassis Management Controller (CMC) and the latest firmware. The FlexAddress SD card is now available worldwide with a starting price of $499.

• Low-Cost Solution for Blade IO Virtualization, Deployment and Reducing Downtime
• Utilizes Existing Networking Investments; No Need to ‘Switch Your Switch’
• Achieves up to 100 Percent More Networking and Storage Connectivity at Half the Cost of HP Virtual Connect

“We delivered one of the greenest, most energy-efficient blade solutions on the planet with the PowerEdge M-Series and now we’re making it one of the most flexible,” said Rick Becker, vice president of software and solutions, Dell Product Group. “FlexAddress frees customers from existing high-cost, proprietary tools, and enables them to utilize existing networking infrastructure and knowledge to handle predictable or even unplanned changes in their data center without affecting the network.”

Dell and Partners Declare: No Longer a Need to “Switch Your Switch” for Blades

Dell FlexAddress allows any M-Series blade enclosure to abstract the Fibre Channel World Wide Name(WWN) and Ethernet/iSCSI Media Access Control (MAC) from the blade hardware and, instead, tie it persistently to a slot in the M1000e chassis. This feature provides customers with an efficient, flexible and consistent infrastructure. Dell FlexAddress is managed by the Chassis Management Controller (CMC) in the PowerEdge M1000e, keeping it agnostic to the IO module and avoiding the need to “switch your switch.” Customers can achieve 100 percent more network and storage (LAN and SAN) connectivity at half the cost of HP Virtual Connect by enabling automated deployment configuration in advance and network stacking. This speeds network configuration and management by virtualizing the switches across up to 8 chassis (up to 128 servers), making them appear as a single virtual switch. FlexAddress also works with all Dell pass-through modules.

“Dell has provided M-Series customers with a powerful tool to help simplify the management of the data center while taking advantage of the intelligent network, management and advanced security capabilities of Cisco's Ethernet switches,” said Ed Chapman, vice president of product management, Server Access and Virtualization Business Unit for Cisco. “Dell’s FlexAddress offers seamless integration with Cisco network and device management tools. This integration eliminates the need for additional changes to existing management and infrastructure.”

“Dell customers will truly benefit from the flexibility of choice in industry standard networking products as well as the powerful capabilities Dell’s new FlexAddress technology delivers,” said Madhu Matta, Vice President, Server Connectivity Business, Brocade. “The combination of FlexAddress and Brocade’s Access Gateway technologies help eliminate costly training and translates into greater IT simplification.”

Blade Deployment and Management Made Easy

Dell FlexAddress helps save customers time, money and resources because changes to the underlying hardware, whether upgrades or replacements, are transparent to the network. Additionally, since Dell FlexAddress is controlled by the Chassis Management Controller (CMC), it doesn’t add a management layer. This means it can seamlessly integrate into the network management tools already used in any data center today, such as CiscoWorks.