Brocade launches set of IP network switches

Brocade's new switches will be available from July

Fibre channel switch vendor Brocade has launched a number of new IP products for the datacentre, including a ServerIron ADX family of Layer 4-7 switches which the company said will revolutionise application delivery. The new products will be available from July this year.

The ServerIron ADX Series, starting at $21,995 (£14,525), is a new set of application switches aimed at service providers and businesses that need to maintain performance in datacentres as demand grows.

"The Brocade ServerIron ADX Series is a future-ready platform for next-generation dynamic and adaptive datacentre," said Guru Pangal, Brocade vice president of product development.

"It is designed to help service providers and enterprises maximise the value of their IT investments, and benefit from industry-leading performance per price, per rack unit and per watt."

The switch supports 70Gbit/s of Layer 4 and Layer 7 application throughput, and has twice the 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) port density of any competitive offering, according to Brocade. It comes in three configurations: ServerIron ADX 1000 (1U fixed form factor), ServerIron ADX 4000 (4U chassis) and ServerIron ADX 8000 (8U chassis).

The chassis versions feature interchangeable modules with up to 16 ports and 10Gbit/s fibre.

All the models will connect with enterprise applications from Microsoft, Oracle/BEA and SAP in order to reduce risk, lower implementation costs and allow faster deployment, according to Brocade.

The company also unveiled a 10GbE top-of-rack switch, called TurboIron 24X, which provides 24 ports of 10GbE and 1GbE wire-speed performance with ultra-low latency for server access and aggregation in a 1U form factor. The starting price for the TurboIron 24X is $12,000 (£7,925).

Finally, Brocade launched the FastIron CX Series, a stackable switch family for campus networks that will cost around $5,495 (£3,629).

Brocade said that FastIron CX will support the highest Power over Ethernet (PoE) Plus technology, although the standard has yet to be ratified by the IEEE, and will also support port density in a stackable form factor.

The future-ready PoE product will deliver 30 Watts of power per port, which is almost twice the current standard, Brocade said.