VMware Infrastructure 3 provides enterprises with unprecedented capabilities for consolidation and infrastructure management. With the support of NPIV as a feature of VMware VI3, data centers can further leverage the benefits of the combined server virtualization with traditional SAN best practices. VMware VI3 and future releases of Cisco SAN OS on MDS switches deliver these and additional capabilities when combined with NPIV-enabled LightPulse Fibre Channel HBAs from Emulex. The key SAN benefits of increased availability, data protection and manageability enable a new level of efficiency in resource management within the virtualized data center. This paper has addressed a few of the value propositions and solutions we are jointly working to deliver. The partnership will continue to define best practices and enhancements to ensure the maximum benefits for customer solutions based on NPIV and ESX Server.