Low-Latency Network Storage Helps Double VM VDI Density

Mellanox Technologies and LSI Corp. collaborated on a lower-cost storage solution that increases virtual desktop density per server using VMware Horizon View. The low-latency solution involves Mellanox’s 40-GbE network interface cards (NICs) and LSI’s Nytro MegaRaid application acceleration card, which integrates onboard flash capacity with intelligent caching software and hard-drive RAID management. The hardware offload capabilities with the NICs overcome the limitations of ordinary TCP/IP interconnects. As a result, servers can more efficiently connect to the storage subsystem and take advantage of flash-storage performance in a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment. It also eliminates redundant, costly SAN infrastructure. Overall, with a VDI workload, the solution supports up to 1500 desktops across 10 vSphere servers at a hardware cost of less than $25,000.

MELLANOX TECHNOLOGIES LTD. ; LSI CORP.