Xsigo Systems

Xsigo Systems, established in August 2004, specialized in data center network and I/O virtualization through a combination of hardware and software. The company was founded by brothers Ashok Krishnamurthi, R.K. Anand, and S.K. Vinod, along with Shreyas Shah. Ashok Krishnamurthi, who served as vice-chairman, brought valuable experience from his previous role as Vice President and General Manager of the infrastructure product line at Juniper Networks. Xsigo operated as a privately held entity, securing funding from prominent venture capital firms including Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Greylock Partners.

The core of Xsigo's business was its software-defined networking (SDN) technology, designed to simplify cloud infrastructure and operations. The company's flagship product, the I/O Director, consolidated data center infrastructure by replacing multiple physical server connections—like Ethernet and Fibre Channel interfaces—with a single high-speed link, often InfiniBand. This hardware and software solution allowed for the creation of virtual network interfaces (vNICs) and virtual Fibre Channel host bus adapters (vHBAs). This enabled enterprises to dynamically connect any server to any network and storage resource without physical intervention or system reboots, leading to increased asset utilization, improved application performance, and reduced costs. The product suite included the Fabric Director, Fabric Accelerator, and Fabric Manager, which together provided comprehensive control over virtualized environments. The business model targeted large enterprise customers managing complex cloud environments, with a client roster that included British Telecom, eBay, Softbank, and Verizon.

Recognized for its approach to network virtualization, Xsigo garnered several accolades, including The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award. The company's trajectory culminated in its acquisition by Oracle, with the deal announced in July 2012 and finalized in September 2012. The acquisition was seen as a strategic move by Oracle to integrate Xsigo's advanced network virtualization into its own Oracle VM and hardware stacks, aiming to offer a more complete set of capabilities for cloud environments and enhance its "Exa-systems" engineered solutions. Following the acquisition, Oracle rebranded Xsigo's products as its "Virtual Networking" line.

Keywords: network virtualization, I/O virtualization, software-defined networking, SDN, data center infrastructure, cloud infrastructure, server connectivity, virtual network interfaces, vNIC, virtual HBAs, I/O Director, Oracle acquisition, InfiniBand, fabric director, data center management, server virtualization, cloud operations, asset utilization, storage connectivity, Ashok Krishnamurthi