Brocade aims VDX 6720 switches at the datacentre

Brocade has launched new fabric switching products aimed at the growing number of cloud-optimised and virtualisation datacentres being used by enterprises.

The VDX 6720 Data Center Switches are 10 Gigabit Ethernet offerings aimed at providing full 10Gbit/s wire-speed performance from any port to any port, with latency of 600 nanoseconds.

Brocade claimed that the switches improve Layer 2 Ethernet networking by creating the first true Ethernet fabrics, ensuring that datacentres meet future network demands.

"Today's infrastructure is not sufficient to handle new applications and not flexible enough for a world where applications are mobile. It is clear that datacentre networks need to be upgraded to increase performance, reduce latency and eliminate downtime," said Brocade chief technology officer Dave Stevens.

"We are delivering on our Brocade One unified network strategy and vision by dramatically simplifying networks and increasing scalability without adding complexity."

Brocade said that the switches remove the need for Spanning Tree Protocol, thereby reducing the access and aggregation networking layers to create a flat, multipath, deterministic network that the company claimed is ideal for virtualised environments.

This will allow companies to use virtual machines for a greater use of mobility tools that also increases network utilisation, creates more resilient networks and simplifies the management of datacentre networks.

The Brocade VDX 6720 Data Centre Switches are available in one- or two-rack form factors and provide the ability to scale from 16 to 60 ports with pay-as-you-grow ports-on-demand licensing.

The switches are available now, starting at $10,700 (£6,685).