Dell has followed on the introduction of its PowerEdge M-Series blade server solution with Dell FlexAddress, a tool for blade chassis virtualization and persistent identity. Dell FlexAddress is in essence an I/O virtualization tool for its blade servers, making it easier for IT managers to install new blades and swap out servers.
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.
Dell says 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 I/O module and avoiding the need to “switch your switch.”
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.
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