NextIO, Inc. provides next-generation I/O virtualization solutions for enterprise class servers. Leveraging PCI Express, NextIO offers true virtualization for ANY end-point technology.

The Market

Today's data center managers are faced with increasing challenges in managing cost and complexity. While hardware costs for servers have remained flat, interconnect and management costs have skyrocketed. This is largely due to the increase in the requisite number of servers, resulting in both physical and virtual sever sprawl. The growing infrastructure further impacts the complexity of the data center, as well as, the costs of management, administration, and I/O connectivity. These costs outpace the cost of adding new server hardware by as much as five to one. An emerging paradigm addresses this issue. That paradigm is Virtualization.

For controlling data center complexity, Virtualization is the technology solution of choice. Virtualization lowers overall costs and provides a way to deploy, provision and manage data centers with capabilities yet unrealized. The fundamental value of virtualization is the removal of physical ties to a specific hardware platform. Users can then connect and manage many types of hardware through one abstracted or "virtualized" solution. The concepts of virtualization have been evolving from the Network and Storage markets to new capabilities in Server Virtualization. An emerging component of the virtualization puzzle is I/O Virtualization on standard, commodity platforms.

With the introduction of PCI Express, there is now a server port that offers more than enough bandwidth for any I/O end-point technology. More importantly, this high bandwidth I/O port is free requiring no changes or additions to existing servers. NextIO's patented technology takes advantage of this port by virtualizing PCI Express in the server, thereby removing the constraint of having a single I/O option slot. Now there is a pool of I/O slots that offers the ability to expand and virtualize ALL I/O options.

"I/O Choice without Change": The Adaptive Connect™ Platform

NextIO offers customers "I/O choice without infrastructure change." The patented Adaptive Connect™ platform turns specific physical to physical connections into a pool of virtualized I/O resources. Adaptive Connect provides expansion and virtualization capabilities for all I/O resources, including storage and network access, video, WAN, and many others and can be pooled and dynamically shared by servers. NextIO's unique adaptive solution delivers the foundation for emerging cloud compute and storage environments by delivering resources, on demand, using any and all standard infrastructure components.

The NextIO solution offers the unique ability to not only virtualize ANY I/O technology, but it enables it on ANY platform. That means I/O virtualization enabled on any server, operating system, hypervisor, and storage architecture. This is the only solution on the market that supports server virtualization in any server form factor, rack or blade, with ANY I/O option. By providing a pool of I/O resources, I/O end-points can be redeployed to any physical server as virtual servers and applications are migrated from machine to machine. With other virtualization solutions, EVERY server must be provisioned EXACTLY the same, then as a virtual server or application is moved to a new physical server, the I/O pool must look identical. This is a very costly and limiting approach to virtualization. With the NextIO approach, ANY end-point technology can be added, moved, re-assigned to any physical or virtual server.

NextIO Advantage

The NextIO architecture separates CPU from I/O in a server so that each may be added or upgraded as needed separately. This empowers IT professionals with tremendous flexibility, and gives server OEM's the lowest possible acquisition cost. IT users can upgrade processor blades without disturbing their I/O configurations and vice versa. For example, they can add expensive fibre channel SAN at the time it is needed rather than bearing the cost at order time. When it is time for an upgrade from 1Gb Ethernet to 10Gb, they just add a less expensive 10G Ethernet card rather than buy an entire new rack server or blade chassis. This is the lowest cost, least disruptive way to manage IT infrastructure.

With Adaptive Connect fewer servers must be replicated, meaning improved and cost-effective business continuity. As environments grow, the adaptive platform lets customers scale each of their resources independently. Adaptive Connect delivers unprecedented capabilities in scalability, with I/O and server resources that can be scaled independently for potential 50-70% savings in capital, power, and space.

This achitecture applies not only to enterprise data centers, but to ANY data center including Telecommunications, Digital Media, and Web 2.0. Each have different I/O requirements, encompassing more than just storage and communications. I/O end-points for any of these environments can be easily added and virtualized through the NextIO architecture. This expands the market from the $4B enterprise data center opportunity to a $10B opportunity for ANY server I/O environment.

About NextIO

NextIO, Inc. is the premier provider of next-generation I/O solutions offering organizations "choice without infrastructure change" for today's dynamic data center. With the patented adaptive connect platform, NextIO enables any-to-any I/O connectivity to boost performance, availability and reliability while streamlining IT deployment, simplifying administration and reducing costs. NextIO solutions are deployed across a variety of sectors including enterprise, telecom, media, financial services and other large computing environments. Led by a team of industry veterans, NextIO recently closed an $18.8 million Series C funding round led by Adams Capital Management and Crescendo Ventures. NextIO is based in Austin, Texas.