11 Reasons to

Choose QLogic Over

Emulex (FC HBA)
QLogic 4Gb Fibre Channel (FC) HBAs Outperform
Emulex in Performance, Scalability and Reliability
Executive Summary
The success of an enterprise depends on the speed and quality of the service it offers. From
financial institutions, to airlines, credit-card companies, on-line auction or merchandisers, to large
retail-chains, they all have increased demands on the dependability and scalability of their IT/SAN
infrastructure. CIOs and SAN administrators are increasingly being challenged to review and
evaluate complex components.

This paper provides an evaluation between

QLogic and Emulex FC HBAs, with a focus
on factors that matter to CIOs and SAN
administrators; performance, scalability
and reliability.

QLogic provides a seamless path to future

scalability with a commitment and investment
to building next-generation FC, iSCSI,
InfiniBand adapters, FC switches, FC storage
solutions and multi-protocol bridges/routers.

11 Key Findings: Choosing QLogic FC HBAs over Emulex provides:

• Higher Performance:
o Highest IOPs and Throughput in real-world applications
• Superior Scalability:
o Broadest product offering for standard HBAs
o Broadest product offering for blade servers
o Broadest OS support
o Virtualization leadership
o Ease-of-use and serviceability (including unified firmware/drivers)
o Pervasive interoperability
o Global Tech Support and 30 minute response time
• Enhanced Reliability:
o Highest product reliability backed by 5-year warranty
o Highest data reliability offered through end-to-end data protection
o Highest reliability of supply chain
2 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Introduction
Newer technologies like server virtualization, multi-core processors, and faster server host
bus architectures are driving increased bandwidth requirements on the server side. To
meet these ever-growing demands on the SAN, it is imperative that enterprise SAN users
deploy a scalable HBA architecture that can address a full spectrum of concerns, including
cost, performance, backward compatibility, and most importantly, future scalability.

Performance Comparison

Reason #1: Highest IOPs and Throughput in Real-World Applications

QLogic 4Gb HBAs deliver the industries highest performance as documented in a series of
white-papers highlighting findings in Windows, MS-Exchange and Oracle environments.
Each of the papers provides complete details of the test-environments. Furthermore,
QLogic results were validated by independent 3rd party, OpenBench Labs.

Windows Highlights: Exchange Highlights: Oracle Highlights:

• QLogic HBAs • QLogic HBAs scaled • QLogic HBAs

displayed 246% 13% better than demonstrated 31%
higher Sequential Emulex with an better throughput
Write Performance increase in the than Emulex.
than Emulex. Higher numbers of disk
by 95,000 IOPs. drives. • On Oracle workloads,
QLogic's dual port
• QLogic HBAs
• Simulating MS HBAs delivered 28%
displayed 79% higher
Exchange, QLogic more IOPs than
Sequential Read
HBAs supported 84% Emulex.
Performance than
higher data
Emulex. Higher by
throughput and 78%
67,000 IOPs.
more transactions
than Emulex while
maintaining a 45%
faster response rate.

Please refer to the URL below for White Papers on performance in real-world applications.
http://www.qlogic.com/knowledgecenter/briefs_papers.asp

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3 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

QLogic’s SAN Pro architecture provides the foundation for implementing high-
performance SAN solutions. Some of the key innovations (patents pending) that help
deliver the highest performance include:

Intelligent Interleaved Dual Read DMA Out of Order Frame

Direct Memory (DRDMA) – optimizes Reassembly (OoOFR) –
Access (iiDMA) – DMA read request reassembles the frames
ensures maximum processing by allowing within an exchange in
bandwidth utilization multiple DMA read the correct order, even
between end nodes in requests to be serviced. though they may have
environments been received out of
supporting different FC order, thus eliminating
speeds. the need for
retransmission.

Please refer to the URL below for Technical Briefs on the foundations of the SAN Pro
architecture.

http://www.qlogic.com/knowledgecenter/tech_briefs.asp

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4 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Scalability Comparison

Enterprise datacenters build their infrastructures to not only meet immediate needs, but
also to plan for future scalability. Major considerations for CIOs and SAN administrators are
stability of the vendor/partner’s technology, commitment to develop next generation
products that are backward compatible, support for current and future server/OS platforms,
ease-of-use and service of the products, guaranteed interoperability and global support.

Reason #2: Broadest Product Offering of Standard Form Factor HBAs

QLogic offers a complete product offering for both PCI-X 2.0 (backward compatible with
PCI-X 1.0 systems) and PCI Express 4Gb SAN Pro FC HBAs as shown in the following
table.

4Gb FC HBAs QLogic: 2400 Series Emulex: 11000

Single/Dual Port: PCI-X 1.0 √ √

Single/Dual Port: PCI-X 2.0 √ √

Single/Dual Port: PCI Express √ √

Quad Port: PCI Express √ No

ExpressModule: PCI Express √ No

Reason #3: Broadest Product Offering for Blade Servers

QLogic developed the world's first embedded SAN infrastructure for bladed servers and is
the leading supplier of Fibre Channel embedded switches and HBAs for bladed servers. In
2005, QLogic shipped its 500,000th blade server HBA port and 20,000th blade server
Switch.

Products designed for blade server environments are more complex than standard HBA
and Switch products in that they require the lowest possible power consumption, smallest
possible form factor, operation with limited airflow and the highest level of signal integrity to
ensure robust connections with the high speed electrical backplanes of a blade server.

QLogic has worked with all major OEMs over three generations of blade-servers and have
developed over 20+ HBAs and embedded Switch modules for blade servers. This wide
exposure across systems and products enables QLogic to deliver the most reliable
products for this rapidly growing market segment.

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5 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Blade HBA Switch

QLogic attention and commitment to both standard and Blade Server form factors has
resulted in QLogic’s #1 position. Dell’Oro Group’s 2005 Worldwide FC Port market share
data shows that QLogic’s HBAs are the number one choice of users for all
generations of FC technologies with 46% of the worldwide FC HBA port shipments.

An even more resounding statement from users is the number of 4Gb FC HBA port
shipments. Dell’Oro’s most recent numbers show that QLogic shipped 48% of the 4Gb FC
HBA ports in the first quarter of 2006 compared to Emulex which shipped only 35.5%.

2005 FC HBA Port Shipments 1QCY06 4Gb FC HBA Port Shipm ents
(Worldwide % Share) (Worldw ide %)

50 55
45 46.1% 45
QLogic
48% QLogic
40 40% 35 35.5%
35 Emulex Em ulex
25
30
25 15

Source: Dell’Oro Group 2005 Source: Dell’Oro Group 1Q CY06

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6 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Reason #4: Broad and In-Time OS Support

QLogic offers support for multiple operating systems including Windows 2000/2003,
Windows XP, Linux, Solaris, Netware and Mac across hardware platforms (IA32, IEM64T,
IA64, and PPC). HP-UX and AIX support is also offered through OEMs.

The strong partnership between QLogic’s software team and each OS vendor helps
ensure that driver support is aligned with each new OS release. In addition, this sharp
focus enables QLogic driver architecture to take advantages of the features and
functionality offered in the OS. For example, QLogic was the first to offer x64 drivers for the
Windows platform.

QLogic has recently extended its support to the Mac OS by offering drivers,
applications and utilities. Also of significance is that QLogic’s Linux driver was the
foundation (gold standard) for VMware’s FC HBA driver.

VMware Advantage – No Solaris Reboot –

QLogic’s VMware QLogic enables zero-
solutions offer the downtime in Solaris
broadest support, environments.
simplified management
and highest performance.

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7 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

In today’s heterogeneous operating system environment, SAN Pro’s extensive operating

system support allows IT personnel to scale their SAN infrastructure without operating
system compatibility restrictions.

QLogic Emulex

√ No
Mac OS X

√ No Windows XP
Windows

√ √
Solaris

√ √
Netware

√ √
Linux

VMware √ √

√* √
HP-UX

AIX √* √

√ * - Developed by OEM

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8 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Reason #5: Virtualization Leadership

QLogic is a leader in supporting server and storage virtualization initiatives that will help
enterprises scale their operations, provide the lowest cost of ownership and maximize
hardware and software investments. QLogic is deeply engaged with next generation
initiatives from Intel and AMD with respect to processor technology, virtualization software
providers such as XENsource and VMware, and several other key virtualization community
partners. This close relationship has helped QLogic to offer key features such as:

Virtualization – N-Port VSAN – provides the ability

Virtualization allows a single to create completely isolated
physical Fibre Channel (FC) network islands, each with
HBA port to function as its own set of fabric services.
multiple logical ports, each QLogic is the only FC HBA
with its own identity. to offer HW based VSAN
tagging capability.

VSAN is a standard that was pioneered by Cisco. In November 2004, the T11 committee of
the International Committee for Information Technology Standards selected Cisco's Virtual
SAN (VSAN) technology for approval by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) as
the industry standard for deploying virtual fabrics, defined as the ability to segment a
single, physical SAN fabric into many logical, completely independent SANs.

Please refer to the URL below for Technical Briefs on the foundations of the SAN Pro
architecture. http://www.qlogic.com/knowledgecenter/briefs_papers.asp

In summary, QLogic offers support for emerging virtualization technologies as shown in the
following table.

QLogic Emulex

VMware √ √

Xen Hypervisor √ √
√ No
Hardware-based VSAN
√ No
NPIV + Hardware-based VSAN

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9 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Reason #6: Ease-of-Use and Serviceability

QLogic continues to incorporate customer feedback into its FC HBA products to make them
easier to install and use.

The following table shows QLogic’s ease-of-use and serviceability features for 4Gb FC
HBAs offerings, including Quick Start Guides, HTML- based easy-to-read and navigate
read-me and release-notes, and brackets with detailed information such as the WWPN,
type of host bus interface, port number identification and separate link speed LEDs.

Emulex’s 4Gb FC HBAs do not provide the user with nearly as much information, and that
which is provided is significantly less comprehensive, elegant and intuitive when compared
with QLogic. QLogic’s attention to detail differentiates the user experience and
makes it extremely easy and intuitive to use its FC HBAs.

QLogic Emulex

Quick Start Guide √ No

HTML Read Me & Release √ No

Notes
CD/Management ToolS √ √

Command Line Interface (CLI) √ √

Unified Firmware/Driver √ No

Bracket See picture below See picture below

Spare Low Profile Bracket √ √

Host Bus Identification √ No

WWPN √ No

Beacon Support √ √

Separate LED for 4/2/1 Gb No

√
Speed

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10 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

QLogic’s OS drivers have the firmware embedded. Embedding the firmware in the OS
driver reduces the number of software loads and ensures that both the driver and the
firmware have been thoroughly tested. A unified firmware/driver eliminates the need to
guess which combination of firmware and OS driver have been tested.

Ease of Use – simplifying Unified Driver – QLogic

the tasks of installing, uniquely delivers matched
configuring, managing and sets of FC HBA driver and
upgrading storage solutions. firmware within a unified
file.

Please refer to the URL below for Technical Briefs on the scalability benefits of the SAN Pro
architecture.

http://www.qlogic.com/knowledgecenter/competitive_briefs.asp

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11 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Reason #7: Pervasive Interoperability

QLogic’s 4Gb SAN Pro FC HBA solutions are continually tested for interoperability with
previous generation products, as well as with the latest servers, storage and networking
products from major manufacturers including: ADIC, Brocade, Computer Associates, Dell,
EMC, HDS, HP, IBM, Engenio, Quantum, StorageTek, Sun, VERITAS (Symantec), and
others. QLogic’s Interoperability Guide is updated monthly with the latest
information.

SAN administrators can enjoy peace of mind when deploying a QLogic 4Gb SAN Pro FC
HBA knowing that it will work with not only their existing SAN infrastructure, but with any
equipment added to the SAN at a later date.

QLogic’s SANtrack Partner Program ensures that QLogic HBAs are interoperable with the
most extensive list of equipment in the SAN marketplace. Over the years, QLogic has
invested more than $100M in equipment to test and certify for interoperability.

QLogic Emulex

http://www.qlogic.com/alliances/our_partners.asp
Certification
Partner
Program
√

http://www.qlogic.com/interopguide/
Orderable
Hard Copy
Certification
Guides
No

Interoperability Guide Quick Reference

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12 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Reason #8: Global Tech Support and 30-Minute Response Times

In our continuing commitment to bring best-in-class pre- and post-sales support to

customers, QLogic has the broadest support, fastest response times and the most
extensive geographic coverage of any HBA supplier in the industry today.

QLogic offers extensive self-service web support options including natural language
knowledge-base queries and user forums at http://support.qlogic.com. In addition, access
to standardized global support is available via email and telephone in the customer’s
preferred language.

QLogic support personnel are focused on QLogic products, have extensive industry
experience, receive uniform training and are committed to responding to phone inquiries
within 30 minutes during normal business hours. QLogic support personnel are also
authorized to provide advanced replacement products as needed.

QLogic’s comprehensive support services are offered at no additional charge for

products that are covered by warranty.

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13 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

QLogic Emulex

Comprehensive
Global Support √
Services
No

FC HBAs, iSCSI HBAs, InfiniBand

Products
HCAs, FC switches, FC storage
No
Supported
solutions and multi-protocol
bridges/routers.
Support
Knowledgebase √
http://support.qlogic.com No
and User
Forums
Advanced No
Product √
Replacement
30-Minute No
Response Time √

In Country
Support
[email protected]
North America √
+1-952-932-4040

[email protected]
Europe, Middle
+353 1 6924960 – English
East and Africa No
+353 1 6924961 – Français
(EMEA)
+353 1 6924962 – Deutsch
800-854-7112 or 714-
+353 1 6924963 – Español
885-3402 Only
+353 1 6924964 – Portuguese
+353 1 6924965 – Italiano
[email protected]
Asia Pacific
+63-2-885-6712 – English
Region (APAC)
+63-2-885-6713 –
(Mandarin)
No
+63-2-885-6714 – 800-854-7112 or 714-
(Japanese) 885-3402 Only
+63-2-885-6715 –
(Korean)
[email protected] No
Central and
+52 55 5278 7016 – English
Latin America
+52 55 5278 7017 – Español 800-854-7112 or 714-
Region
+52 55 5278 7015 – Portuguese 885-3402 Only

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14 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Reliability Comparison
Today’s enterprise environment demands an IT infrastructure that provides maximum
up-time. By ensuring the most reliable products, with the highest accuracy and protection
of data, as well as ensuring continuity of supply, QLogic FC HBAs are the leaders with
respect to this commitment.

Reason #9: Highest Product Reliability Backed by 5-Year Warranty

Traditionally, most FC HBA suppliers offer 1 to 3-year warranties on their products. For
example, Emulex offers the traditional 3-year warranty on their HBAs. QLogic SAN Pro FC
HBAs are unmatched in the category of reliability with the highest Mean Time Between
Failure (MTBF) and is the only FC HBA supplier to back-up its high reliability claim by
offering a FREE 2-year extension to the standard 3-year QLogic limited warranty coverage.
This FREE program gives you an unprecedented 5 years total coverage on SAN Pro
-CK and -E models, more protection than you can get from any other HBA provider!

QLogic: QLx246x Emulex: LP1100x

LPe1100x
Standard 3-Years √
√
Free 5-Year Option
√

No

http://webnet.qlogic.com/
extendwarranty

MTBF – the highest MTBF Most Reliable HBA –offers

backed by an industry the highest level of
leading free 5-year reliability.
warranty offer.

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15 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Reason #10: Highest Data Reliability offered through End-to-End Data Protection

Increasingly, enterprises want to ensure data is protected not only when it is at rest, but
also as the data travels between the fibre channel network and the server host bus
interface. QLogic’s (patent pending) implementation of Overlapping Protection Domains
(OPD) ensures data is protected at all times and provides complete end-to-end protection.

Overlapping Protection
Domains (OPD) – ensures
data is protected at all
times as it passes through
the FC controller.

Please refer to the URL below for Technical Briefs on the reliability benefits of the SAN Pro
architecture.

http://www.qlogic.com/knowledgecenter/briefs_papers.asp

Reason #11: Highest Reliability of Supply Chain Solutions

As the world leader in FC HBA port shipments, QLogic recognizes the need
for having multiple production facilities and multiple fulfillment centers in
order to meet the demands of customers and to prevent line-down situations
in the event of an unfortunate disaster at any single facility and at any given
time. QLogic’s Global Supply Chain Optimization Program (GSCOP)
represents a direction and dedication to provide a truly global, flexible and
resilient supply chain solution set to service customer demand.

QLogic production facilities and partners are located in Guadalajara, Mexico;

Penang, Malaysia; and within the US (Florida and California). QLogic also
has fulfillment centers in the USA, Europe and Asia which ensure the fastest
delivery of products just-in-time for our OEMs and customers. Through this
diversified geo-centric fulfillment chain, QLogic can consistently deliver the
right product mix to meet variable customer demand from within each
geography.

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16 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Summary and Conclusion

IT managers know that choosing the right HBA for their SAN infrastructure can have a
significant impact on the performance, scalability and reliability of their enterprise storage
environments. The results of this comparison between QLogic’s and Emulex’s 4Gb FC
HBAs demonstrate that QLogic’s 4Gb FC HBAs are distinctly superior to Emulex’s offering,
and represent best-in-class in virtually every category.

• Higher Performance
ƒ Highest performance in Windows, MS-Exchange and Oracle environments.
ƒ Innovative technologies to enhance link-speeds in mixed environments (iiDMA),
multi-threaded memory access (DRDMA) and optimizing meshed switch
environments (OoOFR).
• Superior Scalability
ƒ Broadest product portfolio of single, dual and quad port HBAs with native PCIe
or PCI-X 2.0 support.
ƒ Forward compatible firmware and drivers for ease of adoption of next-
generation FC speeds.
ƒ Broadest OS support.
ƒ Innovative solutions supporting virtualization technologies (Hardware-based
VSAN, N-Port/
Multi-ID, VMWare/Xen).
ƒ Focus on ease-of-use and serviceability.
ƒ Pervasive interoperability.
ƒ Single vendor global support for FC HBAs, iSCSI HBAs, FC Switches,
FC/iSCSI routers, FC appliances and InfiniBand HCAs.
ƒ Tested and certified for global market acceptability.
• Enhanced Reliability
ƒ Highest product reliability backed by a 5-year warranty.
ƒ Highest data reliability offered through end-to-end data protection.
ƒ Highest reliability of supply chain solutions by ensuring multiple HBA production
and fulfillment centers.

The QLogic FC HBA features listed above translates into tangible benefits to any enterprise
(and OEMs):

• Lower hardware total cost of ownership (TCO). Especially with emerging, high-
performance applications that will be used in conjunction with emerging server
virtualization technologies and high-performance Grid-computing. QLogic HBAs
provide significant head-room for speed and throughput to meet the growing needs
of enterprise SANs.
• Investment protection. A product that provides guaranteed support for emerging
host-buses, FC speeds, operating systems and hardware platforms with a
commitment to deliver backward-compatible next-generation products.
• Deliver highest ROI. Continuous innovation helps deliver the highest level of
product and data reliability.

Standardizing and deploying QLogic 4Gb HBAs translates to clear and tangible benefits,
enabling enterprises to drive more value from their SAN infrastructure investments.

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17 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Appendix: Quick Reference Sheet

QLogic Excels over Emulex: 11 Reasons to Choose QLogic FC HBAs over Emulex
Category Reason Benefit
Performance # 1: Highest IOPs and • 246% higher Sequential Writes
Throughput in Real-World in Windows environment.
Applications • 84% higher throughput in MS
Exchange environment.
• 31% higher throughput in Oracle
environment.
• SAN Pro architecture innovations
like iiDMA (intelligent interleaved
direct memory access) for Link-
optimization; DRDMA (dual-read
DMA) for faster request
completion and OoOFR (out-of-
order frame reassembly) for
faster transmission.
Scalability # 2: Broadest Product Portfolio of • Single vendor to support single,
standard form-factor HBAs dual, quad and Express-Module
HBAs.
# 3: Broadest Product offering for • Single vendor support for FC
blade servers blades and switches for blade-
servers ensuring the most robust
design.
# 4: Broadest OS Support with • Single vendor to support multiple
highest integration OSes including Windows XP and
Apple Mac.
• No reboot Solaris drivers.
• Broadest HBA support in
VMware.
# 5: Virtualization Leadership • Only HBA with NPIV and
hardware based VSAN support.
# 6: Ease of Use & Serviceability • Quick Start Guides, HTML-based
read me’s/release notes.
• Unified FW and Driver
(eliminates need to test and
ensure interoperability between
various FW and Driver versions.
Simplifies upgrade process)
• WWPN on brackets and 3 LEDs
to provide HBA status.

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18 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

QLogic Excels over Emulex: 11 Reasons to Choose QLogic FC HBAs over Emulex
Category Reason Benefit
# 7: Pervasive Interoperability • Orderable hardcopy certification
guides, ensures highest level of
interoperability.
# 8: Global Tech Support • 30-minute response time.
• Local language telephone and
email support.
• Advance replacement.
• Knowledge base/support forums.
Reliability # 9: Highest Product Reliability • Most reliable HBA - only one
backed with 5 years of warranty.
# 10: Highest Data Reliability • Patent pending OPD
(Overlapping Protection
Domains) technology provides
seamless data protection.
# 11: Highest Supplier Reliability • Multiple product and fulfillment
centers around the globe backed
by GSCOP (Global Supply Chain
Optimization Program).

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19 QLogic 4Gb FC HBAs Outperform Emulex in Performance, Scalability & Reliability

Disclaimer
Reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the validity and accuracy of these comparative
performance tests. QLogic Corporation is not liable for any error in this published white paper or the
results thereof. Variation in results may be a result of change in configuration or in the environment.
QLogic specifically disclaims any warranty, expressed or implied, relating to the test results and their
accuracy, analysis, completeness or quality.

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