Fusion-io Delivers Open Virtualization Systems with ioTurbine Caching Software

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- [VMworld 2012 trade show booth 2201] – Fusion-io today announced that its Fusion ioTurbine virtualization caching software now offers intelligent application caching for the Linux guest operating system (OS), in addition to support for the Microsoft Windows guest operating system. Fusion ioTurbine software delivers improved VM density and cost savings in VMware environments, including those that require vMotion, enabling customers to virtualize even data-intensive applications with significant performance improvements.

With this update, Fusion ioTurbine uniquely offers complete cross-platform operating system support while providing full VMware vMotion compatibility for virtualized servers. Fusion ioTurbine offers dynamic rebalancing of flash capacity as VMs come and go to optimize use of resources, while supporting vMotion and the movement of VMs from host to host. By tightly coupling with the file system I/O routines in the guest operating system, ioTurbine transparently redirects I/O patterns so flash storage is shared across all hosted virtual machines (VMs). Fusion ioTurbine also works with Fusion ION Data Accelerator software to enable customers to architect shared software defined virtualization platforms using the servers best suited to their enterprise needs.

"Fusion ioTurbine is the only open server-side caching software on the market today that supports both Linux and Windows guests simultaneously while maintaining seamless vMotion operation," said Neil Carson, Chief Technology Officer, Fusion-io. "Software defined virtualization solutions like Fusion ioTurbine and Fusion ION Data Acceleration are designed to allow IT experts to affordably build virtualization platforms customized to their enterprise, making it possible to scale infrastructure without compromising on performance."

Power sports industry leader Polaris integrated Fusion ioTurbine software to support its online infrastructure, which is crucial to its worldwide dealership channel. In addition, Polaris also accelerates its Microsoft Dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) system with the Fusion ioDrive. The Polaris IT team needed to power performance in a virtualized infrastructure that could scale and support a web-based rich media customer experience, including video, high resolution photos, order details, and customer info, all without requiring a major overhaul of its existing network and NetApp storage infrastructure, which made Fusion-io an ideal fit. Polaris achieved a 5x performance improvement in webpage load times, in addition to a number of other improvements documented in a new case study.

"Once we started using ioTurbine for our virtualized web servers, we noticed that the associated storage systems worked faster as well. Since the read I/O was being satisfied from cache, my storage systems could process write I/O much, much faster. I hadn't anticipated this, but I'll take all the performance I can get, especially when it comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional disk-based solutions," said Adam Knutson, Polaris Infrastructure Manager. "We run pretty high density, anywhere from 20 to 30 VMs per host. With ioTurbine, we were able to increase performance even with these high densities and exceed users' expectations."

Fusion ioTurbine now also features a new plug-in for VMware vCenter Server, the scalable and extensible VMware virtualization management platform, enabling tighter integration and ease of use within VMware environments. With the VMware vCenter Server plug-in, IT administrators can centrally and transparently manage ioMemory in VMware environments for dramatically improved control over the virtual environment.

Compatible with Fusion ioTurbine, Fusion ION Data Accelerator software transforms industry-leading server platforms into powerful network shared flash data acceleration appliances. With ioTurbine and ION integration, data cached on ioTurbine can be supported by a Fusion ION Data Accelerator enabled server to provide an open virtualization platform built on the systems customers know and trust. These combined software solutions enable enterprises to efficiently virtualize even data-intensive applications in VMware environments, ushering in a new era of software defined storage.

Additional enterprise features of ioTurbine include:

• Support for thousands of virtual machines per cluster allows for greater VM density, efficiency  and return on investment
• Enterprise reliability and fault tolerance through Fusion ioMemory features including Wear Leveling to extend flash endurance, as well as Adaptive Flashback, which provides intelligent self-healing through complete, chip-level fault tolerance
• Native support for VM snapshots provides simplicity and easy integration with existing enterprise operations
• New Caching Analytics offer customers the ability to preview return on investment and performance improvements possible in ioTurbine environments
• Support for ESX 4.0 (starting with update1), ESX 4.1 and ESXi 4.1, 5.0 and 5.0 Update 1

Visit Fusion-io booth 2201 at VMworld 2012 to see a demonstration of Fusion ioTurbine running a virtualized Oracle database on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Follow Fusion-io on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fusionio or www.twitter.com/fusionioUK and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fusionio.

About Fusion-io
Fusion-io delivers the world's data faster. Our Fusion ioMemory platform and software defined storage solutions accelerate virtualization, databases, cloud computing, big data and performance applications. From e-commerce retailers to the world's social media leaders and Fortune Global 500 companies, our customers are improving the performance and efficiency of their data centers with Fusion-io technology to accelerate the critical applications of the information economy.

Note on Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, including, but are not limited to, statements concerning our Fusion ioTurbine virtualization caching software, Fusion ION Data Accelerator software and our Fusion ioMemory products and the anticipated benefits our products, software and technology for users. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions regarding future events and business performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained, anticipated, or implied in any forward-looking statement, including, but not limited to, the risks that the users of our products and software may not realize the anticipated benefits, and such other risks set forth in the registration statements and reports that Fusion-io files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.fusionio.com.  You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.  Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur.  Fusion-io undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason after the date of this press release.

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