Making a switch: Blade adds DC-powered Gigabit Ethernet product

Fans of direct current (DC) as a data center power option just got another product to evaluate: Blade Network Technologies has introduced a couple of DC-powered switches in its RackSwitch networking line. The products were designed to be up to 35 percent more efficient than cousins that use alternating current (AC) supplies, because they don't have to make the same conversions as the AC versions, according to Blade.

Blade's RackSwitch line is part of the company's Unified FabricArchitecture, which the company describes as an integrated approach to reducing "the cost and complexity of deploying physical and virtual data center infrastructure." The two new products are intended for telco central offices or data centers, especially container environments. They include:

• The RackSwitch G8124-DC, which is a 1U top-of-rack 10GbE switch that has 24 Small Form Factor Pluggable ports and redundant DC power supplies. It carries a list price of $12,550.
• The RackSwitch G800-DC is a 1U top-of-rack switch with 48GbE ports and four 10GbE ports; it can be stacked with redundant DC power supplies. It has a suggested price of $5,795.

Both products support full Layer 2/3 networking.