QLogic unveils FabricCache: the caching SAN adapter

The first product based on the company’s breakthrough Mt. Rainier technology, FabricCache combines QLogic’s market-leading Fibre Channel adapter, intelligent caching and I/O management with connectivity to a server-based PCIe® flash card. FabricCache is exceptionally simple to deploy and manage and transforms single-server, captive cache into a shared, performance-enhancing resource for a wide range of enterprise applications that rely on SAN storage.

Shared cache unleashes performance for clustered and virtualized applications in the enterprise
Clustered and highly virtualized servers continue to expand their footprint in the data centre, generating large numbers of highly randomized IOPs and producing some of the most performance-challenged environments in the enterprise. FabricCache unleashes the power of server-based caching and defines a new solution category for enterprise application acceleration, transparently pooling individual server cache across multiple, physical servers. All servers equipped with FabricCache adapters access, share and utilize the combined cache of all FabricCache adapters in a cluster. This approach delivers new levels of scalable performance for the most demanding mission-critical applications in the data centre, dramatically lowering latency and increasing throughput for clustered and virtualized applications, including database and enterprise collaboration.

FabricCache adapters enable hypervisor-transparent caching of SAN storage in highly virtualized, clustered environments. During live virtual machine (VM) migration between physical servers, FabricCache ensures the shared cache stays warm, keeping performance high and supporting critical features such as automated VM and workload balancing across clustered servers. Since only one active copy of cache exists for any SAN LUN, FabricCache adapters guarantee cache coherence and maximize utilization of server-based flash capacity. FabricCache also ensures all cached data is synchronized with SAN storage, maintaining existing data protection and compliance policies.

“QLogic has a rich heritage of delivering innovative, high-performance data centre connectivity solutions to our customers and partners,” said Simon Biddiscombe, president and chief executive officer, QLogic. “QLogic possesses the unique combination of industry experience, installed base in the enterprise, global customer relationships, technology assets and unmatched R&D talent needed to define and bring to market game-changing, performance-enhancing solutions such as FabricCache.”

A dramatically simpler solution: transparent, adapter-based caching that lowers TCO
FabricCache is unlike alternative offerings that require separate installation, management and maintenance of server-based software and drivers for the I/O adapter, PCIe flash card and caching. Intelligent cache processing, pooling and clustering are completely offloaded from the server to dedicated cache processing hardware on the FabricCache adapter.

FabricCache uses just a single standard adapter driver per OS, the same QLogic field-proven adapter driver stack that has shipped with more than 13 million Fibre Channel ports. The FabricCache adapter appears logically to the server as a single QLogic HBA, resulting in a simpler solution that consumes no additional server resources and is completely application-transparent, as well as infrastructure and storage subsystem-agnostic. FabricCache integrates seamlessly into current enterprise server and infrastructure environments, simplifying deployment and management, thereby reducing total cost of ownership.

Greater ROI: supercharge performance for more applications using existing infrastructure
The FabricCache single-driver approach, combined with adapter-based cache processing, eliminates the need to purchase and deploy additional caching software, reducing operational and capital expenditures. FabricCache extends server-based caching to more performance-challenged environments in the enterprise, enabling a greater number of mission-critical applications to do more work. Clustered cache eliminates redundant traffic on the SAN, bringing new levels of performance to an existing infrastructure, extending the life of current equipment. As a result, FabricCache changes the economics of server-based caching, delivering significantly higher value with less complexity than currently available performance acceleration offerings.

“The FabricCache 10000 Series is just the beginning of new and highly differentiated solutions to come from QLogic’s groundbreaking Mt. Rainier technology,” said Shishir Shah, senior vice president and general manager, Storage Solutions Group, QLogic. “We are deeply engaged with several strategic enterprise application partners and major OEMs and look forward to bringing additional breakthrough solutions such as FabricCache to market.”
A new era of enterprise application performance acceleration for SANs
Compatible with the vast majority of SANs deployed today, the dual port 8Gb Fibre Channel FabricCache QLE10000 adapter comes bundled with an enterprise ultra-low latency, high-performance SLC PCIe flash card. FabricCache will be available through QLogic’s Authorized Channel Partners by the end of March, 2013. QLogic’s new Advanced Solutions Partners are FabricCache-certified resellers who have the skills and training to identify customer requirements, along with the tools and expertise to support customized FabricCache installations.