Interviews

posted on 13 August 2008 02:40

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Yesterday NetXen popped up out of nowhere as it were from a storage point of view and forced itself onto the storage FCoE radar screen.

That radar screen was pretty simple concerning FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) with HBA suppliers Emulex and QLogic adding FCoE functionality to Ethernet Network Interface (NIC) cards making them Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) and talking to standard Ethernet Switches (Cisco, Blade Network Technologies, etc.) or data center switches (Cisco and Brocade) and through them to storage arrays. Eventually the storage arrays will get native FCoE interfaces (e.g. EMC CLARiiON CX4). Meanwhile, in a parallel iSCSI universe, Ethernet NICS with TCP/IP Offload Engines (TOEs) link servers and iSCSI storage over Ethernet.

Now NetXen has suddenly appeared and offers a CNA single chip NX3031 10GbE product with FCoE capability and iSCI TCP/IP offload engine (TCP/IP) functionality.

We asked the company some questions to help us place it better on our storage landscape and they were answered by Vik Karvat, NetXen's Senior Director of Marketing.

Blocks and Files: Is the NX3031 a CNA (Converged Network Adapter) in the QLogic and Emulex sense?

Vik Karvat: NetXen has been shipping multi-protocol adapters supporting converged networks for over two years. The NX3031 augments the protocol support with FCoE capability, and is the first solution to support both NIC functions as well as full datapath offload for FCoE in a single device.

Comment: That's a yes.

Blocks and Files: Does the NX3031 function as a TCP/IP offload engine?

Vik Karvat: Yes - NetXen was the first 10Gig vendor to demonstrate MS Chimney, and remains the only solution for Linux that requires no modification to the host stack.

Blocks and Files: How does NetXen view the iSCSI and FCoE storage applications from an Ethernet point of view?

Vik Karvat: NetXen is agnostic as we can support both, but market indicators seem to point to iSCSI remaining more focused on the SMB space as opposed to large enterprise where FC (Fibre Channel) is entrenched.

Blocks and Files: Will both FCOE and iSCSI survive? How will they develop?

Vik Karvat: Yes they will both survive and coexist. iSCSI certainly has the lead in market adoption, but with the push behind FCoE, it may remain the solution of choice for SMB as opposed to large enterprise. FCoE will likely begin shipping to early adopters in middle of 2009, but will take several years to replace FC. FCoE in it's first instantiations will likely be used in either greenfield data centers or in existing data centers where there is a desire to extend the reach of block storage to servers that currently do not support this model.

Blocks and Files: Is NetXen working with Cisco and Brocade on FCOE connectivity to their data center switches?

Vik Karvat: We work with many partners, but cannot comment on specifics at this time.

Blocks and Files: How would NetXen position the NX3031 and its other products against TCP/IP offload products from Alacritech and Chelsio?

Vik Karvat: Although we provide TCP offload functions, we are NOT a TOE company; rather we provide highly programmable solutions that have the flexibility to be adapted to new protocols as they develop. FCoE is a good example. Additionally, NetXen is the marketshare leader in 10gig and very focused on driving mainstream high volume solutions - hence our strong presence with OEMs and our new FlexLOM solutions that are designed to drive 10Gig to the server motherboard, thereby dramatically driving up adoption rates.

Blocks and Files: Does NetXen think that the SAN superstructure resting on Fibre Channel SAN switches and Directors will be erected on Ethernet switches?

Vik Karvat: Hard to say - for the time being FCoE switches will complement FC directors.

Blocks and Files: Will NetXen produce Ethernet switches?

Vik Karvat: No.

Blocks and Files: When will NetXen produce multi-port 10GbE products?

Vik Karvat: We have been shipping multiport 10Gig solutions for blade servers for over two years. Our latest generation of solutions built around the NX3031 extend this further by also adding multiple GigE ports.

Blocks and Files: Is there some way of virtualising the NetXen GbE/10GbE NICs so that one product can support multiple VMs in a virtualized server?

Vik Karvat: Yes we do this today. We were the first 10Gig inbox solution for VmWare and have support for multiple virtualization features including multiple ports, multiple MAC addresses, multiple PCI functions, single root IOV (SR-IOV), per vNIC Quality of Virtualization control, etc.

Blocks and Files: Will NetXen offer GbE/10GbE interface products to storage array suppliers so that they can produce native FCOE storage arrays?

Vik Karvat: Yes - we currently sell our silicon solutions into many segments, including storage.

Commentary
NetXen's CNA approach is not to have a CNA in the sense of a card like a transformed HBA. Instead it wants a CNA single chip mounted on a server's motherboard. It is coming at FCoE storage as just another protocol stack to add to its chip and looks like a company that could provide strong competition to QLogic and Emulex by having its chips added to server motherboards. The company doesn't see iSCSI and FCoE co-existing in a single server. Nor does it see FCoE being anything other than a FC SAN extension protocol for the time being.

We place NetXen as a server interface card/chip company in the Emulex/QLogic sense but with an Ethernet technology mindset and not a Fibre Channel/storage background. Although NetXen has TOE capability it has not been known for that in the storage space where Alacritech and Chelsio have made the running. Now though it appears a new supplier with capable products has launched itself into the FCoE and iSCSI space and the existing suppliers may feel as if a cuckoo has appeared in their nest. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

^{[Chris Mellor.]}