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Xsigo Systems: Wholesale Electric Increases Efficiency and Reduces Costs Through Data Center Virtualization With Compellent and

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^{Published in Science and Technology on Wednesday, August 26th 2009 at 5:12 GMT, Last Modified on 2009-08-26 05:12:30 by Market Wire}  

EDEN PRAIRIE, MN and SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - August 26, 2009) - [ Compellent Technologies, Inc. ] (NYSE: [ CML ]) and [ Xsigo Systems ] today announced that [ Wholesale Electric ], a Houston-based electrical product distribution company, experienced a significant reduction in expenses by combining a Compellent virtualized storage area network (SAN) and [ Xsigo's virtual I/O ]. Deployed as part of a VMware ESX server virtualization rollout, the technology combination saved Wholesale Electric 50 percent on servers and reduced I/O infrastructure by 66 percent. By virtualizing its storage on the Compellent SAN, Wholesale Electric eliminated 13 servers and avoided having to purchase internal servers, disks and other components at approximately $1,200 per server.

Wholesale Electric deployed a Compellent SAN and Xsigo virtual I/O in conjunction with their VMware implementation. The combined solution dynamically allocates both storage and I/O resources, eliminating the waste and inefficiency of dedicating resource capacity to specific virtual machines, resulting in less storage spend and 50 percent less I/O infrastructure cost.

"Deploying server virtualization with our existing storage and server connect technologies would have significantly increased overall costs," said Bill Fife, director of technology at Wholesale Electric. "Compellent and Xsigo technologies perfectly complement server virtualization, allowing us to run more VMs on smaller servers with less storage capacity. This three-pronged approach to virtualization -- combining servers, storage and I/O -- substantially increased efficiency and reduced our costs, which is why we're virtualizing in the first place."

Architected and implemented by Houston-based integrator Tradentrix, the complete solution consisted of a Compellent SAN, the Xsigo I/O Director and VMware ESX 3.5 virtualization software. Virtualizing the storage and I/O resources allowed Wholesale Electric to deploy 66 percent fewer server I/O cards, cables, and switch ports than would have been otherwise possible. The reduced physical complexity also permitted the use of compact 1U high servers rather than 4U high devices, reducing power supply requirements by 35 percent and space requirements by 75 percent.

"The combined Xsigo and Compellent solution delivered a robust, resilient, and highly available architecture that was also surprisingly cost effective," Fife continued. "In addition to the capital cost savings, we also extended the life of our existing assets, and expect to enjoy an extended useful life for the new assets as well. When you combine that with the space, power, and cooling benefits we realized, the Xsigo and Compellent solution generated substantial savings all around."

"Inherently virtual and built on advanced storage management applications, the Compellent SAN is proven to reduce total cost of ownership, simplify storage and server asset management, improve availability and dramatically enhance disaster recovery capabilities, making it the most intuitive storage platform for virtual environments," said Bruce Kornfeld, vice president of marketing and alliances, Compellent. "By building the company's virtualization strategy around the Compellent SAN, Xsigo and VMware, Wholesale Electric transformed its data center into a high-performance, highly-efficient IT hub."

"Virtualization demands more from I/O resources, and VMware vSphere ups the ante again with new features and more performance capabilities that will further strain traditional I/O infrastructures and drive the need for Xsigo's virtual I/O," said Erik Hardy, vice president of sales at Xsigo. "Xsigo I/O virtualization delivers the scalability and performance required to maximize server utilization and application performance while reducing connectivity costs."

About Wholesale Electric

Founded in 1949, Wholesale Electric is a distributor of quality electrical products serving the chemical, petrochemical, refining, commercial, OEM and utility industries. Wholesale Electric Supply Co. of Houston, Inc. and its 9 branch locations are committed to being the competitive benchmark for the electrical distribution industry by providing quality products and services which conform to the requirements of its customers through teamwork, training and integrity. Wholesale Electric is a privately held company that is also a proud WBENC member and sells products domestically as well as internationally. For more information, visit Wholesale Electric at [ www.wholesaleelectric.com ]

About Xsigo

[ Xsigo Systems ], Inc. is the technology leader in data centre I/O Virtualization, helping organizations reduce costs and improve business agility. The [ Xsigo VP780 I/O Director ] consolidates server connectivity with a solution that provides unprecedented management simplicity and interoperability with open standards. The privately held company is based in San Jose, CA and funded by Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures and Greylock Partners. For more information, visit Xsigo at [ www.xsigo.com ].

About Compellent

Compellent is a leading provider of enterprise-class network storage solutions that are highly scalable, feature-rich and designed to be easy to use and cost effective. Compellent Technologies' principal offices are located in Eden Prairie, Minn. For more information, please visit: [ http://www.compellent.com ].