Egenera Extends Datacenter Virtualization Architecture; Fifth-Generation Software Release Unleashes Dynamic Reprovisioning for Hundreds of Computing Resources

Business Wire, June 12, 2006

MARLBORO, Mass. -- Egenera, Inc., a leader in datacenter virtualization architecture, today unveiled Egenera(R) PAN Manager(TM) 5.0, the fifth-generation software release for the Egenera BladeFrame(R) system. PAN Manager 5.0 enables multiple Egenera BladeFrame systems - hundreds of computing resources - to be managed as a single pool of assets in order to further enhance operational simplicity, extend failover to a broader set of computing resources, and lower total cost of ownership. Egenera has been shipping its datacenter virtualization system since 2001, bringing unmatched experience and depth to more than 130 global enterprises, service providers and federal agencies.

Egenera's PAN (Processing Area Network) architecture combines diskless Egenera Processing Blade(TM) (pBlade(TM)) modules; a high-speed fabric; and software that virtualizes compute, storage and networking resources. The virtualization of datacenter resources means that servers are no longer tied to specific operating systems or applications, and can be easily shared and automatically repurposed based on business priorities and service-level agreements. By turning servers from fixed resources into dynamic assets, enterprises can dramatically reduce the number of servers they need, use a single server as backup for many servers, and reduce datacenter complexity by up to 80 percent.

Simplified Management, Lower TCO, Failover Granularity

The major innovations in the latest release of Egenera PAN Manager software center on simplified manageability, lowered costs and an increasingly granular level of failover or expansion within customers' datacenters. Among the major new and enhanced features in Egenera PAN Manager software release 5.0 are:

--BladeFarms: BladeFarms extend the PAN to encompass multiple Egenera EX systems creating a dramatically expanded pool of resources which can be managed by a single management console. Servers can now fail over to any of the Processing Blades within the BladeFarm. This capability extends the N 1 failover model to improve the flexibility and efficiency of failover pools and reduces the total cost of providing failover resources. In addition, clustered applications can draw additional processing resources from any Processing Blade in the BladeFarm.

--Named Pools: Egenera systems allow customers to mix-and-match a variety of different Processing Blades within a single system or within a BladeFarm (e.g. 32-bit/64-bit; two-socket/four-socket, single core/dual core, AMD(R)/Intel(R)). Named pools enable customers to easily create computing pools or failover pools of specific types of assets within the PAN based on business and application requirements - providing greater choice, flexibility and granularity to maximize the efficient use of computing resources. For example, if a customer's Oracle(R) database runs best on dual-core four-socket blades, customers can draw from a like Egenera blade in a named pool anywhere within the PAN.

--Warm pBlades: Engineered for cost-effective high availability and rapid failover, "warm pBlades" are powered-up and paused in a "warm" state awaiting PAN Manager software to initiate an operating system boot - cutting total failover time in half. This gives customers an additional option in terms of failover, allowing them to choose different levels of availability needed for particular applications.

--Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability Improvements: PAN Manager software release 5.0 features numerous RAS improvements, including expanded HBA status and performance data, disk performance data, and internal connection monitoring and status values for each connection.

--Virtual Tape Support: As virtualization technologies continue to expand to new areas within the datacenter, Egenera extends the PAN architecture to encompass these new offerings. PAN Manager software release 5.0 now includes support for virtual tape for high-performance back-up. With an increasing number of customers running large database applications on Egenera platforms, there has been a corresponding need for rapid backup.

"All enterprises want to achieve a much more dynamic, reliable and less complex datacenter with lower costs. Our customers tell us that Egenera remains years ahead of the competition in providing a computing architecture that delivers on this vision of the next-generation datacenter," said Susan Davis, vice president of marketing, Egenera. "Our fifth-generation PAN Manager software extends our lead by providing customers with a flexible, yet simple, platform for running mission-critical applications in their datacenters."

Availability and Upgrades

PAN Manager software release 5.0 is available immediately and will ship with new Egenera EX systems. Existing customers will be automatically upgraded to PAN Manager 5.0 under their current agreements.

About Egenera, Inc.

Egenera is a global leader in delivering enterprise computing solutions that simplify datacenter operations and infrastructure. The Egenera BladeFrame system simplifies the datacenter with an innovative server architecture specifically designed to reduce complexity and enable IT to respond rapidly to business requirements. Market-leading enterprises around the world trust the Egenera BladeFrame system to run their most important business applications and achieve higher resource utilization, faster application time to market and lower total cost of ownership. Headquartered in Marlboro, Mass., Egenera has offices worldwide. For more information visit www.egenera.com, call 508-858-2600 or send email to info@egenera.com.