Extreme Networks Speeds Up Datacenter Ethernet
Extreme Networks has released their BlackDiamond X8 Ethernet switch bringing their high density, low-latency, energy efficient 10/40 GbE to medium and large enterprise datacenter networks. With up to 768 10GbE ports in a 1/3rd of a rack mount, the BlackDiamond X8 is poised to enable rapid implementation of cloud networking in new and existing datacenters.
With 768 10 GbE or 192 40 GbE wire-speed ports (or some combination of the two speeds) and a port to port latency of only 2.3 µs, the switch is designed to flatten existing networks, enable cloud networking environments, and consolidate the conglomeration of switching technologies that often is found in datacenters that have grown organically. With power consumption of only 5.6 watts per 10 GbE port, the switch also offers the opportunity for datacenter operators to reduce their overall power consumption and improve the TCO of their facility.
The Extreme networks ExtremeXOS operating system enables the management of up to 128,000 virtual machines switched across all the ports of a fully configured switch at wire-speed. The capabilities include automatic provisioning and deployment and the automated migration of Virtual Port Profiles with the ExtremeOS Network Virtualization technology.
The extremely high-performance of the X* also makes it an excellent candidate for datacenters looking to consolidate their storage networking utilizing the support for FCoE if there is an existing Fiber Channel storage network and , iSCSI, NFS, CIFS if they are looking to implement a storage network over a more traditional networking infrastructure. The speeds available using the X8 can even begin to encroach on the realm of the InfiniBand networking favored by supercomputing installations, but a much lower price.
The BlackDiamond X8 is setting a new standard for high-performance, energy efficient Ethernet networking in the datacenter. With the drive to flatter, power conserving, highly manageable, virtualized networking environments as the backbone of the next generation datacenter it will be interesting to see what Extreme Networks competitors bring next to the table.