The Brocade VDX 6720 Data Center Switches are a new family of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) offerings that revolutionize Layer 2 Ethernet networking to create the first true Ethernet fabrics. The switches eliminate the need for Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), collapsing the access and aggregation networking layers to create a flat, multipath, deterministic network that is ideal for virtualized environments. This approach provides virtual machines (VMs) a greater sphere of mobility, increases network utilisation, creates more resilient networks and simplifies the management of data center networks.
“Over half of all IT workloads will run on virtual machines by the end of this year, with that number climbing to beyond 70 percent by the end of 2013. Brocade has architected a flat, high-performance and highly scalable data center network solution that promises to help their customers scale their virtual environments,” said Cindy Borovick, Vice President, Enterprise Communications Infrastructure and Datacenter Networks at IDC. “The new Brocade VDX 6720 switches, powered by VCS technology, are a natural evolution of Brocade’s trusted status in the data center – taking the best attributes from Fibre Channel and applying that knowledge to form a comprehensive Ethernet fabric.”
“Today more and more customers are moving toward virtualized cloud infrastructures to significantly reduce IT cost and complexity, increase efficiency and improve agility,” said Parag Patel, Vice President, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware. “Brocade’s new VCS technology and the innovative VDX platform present customers with a tremendous opportunity to simplify, scale and easily manage their virtualized data center network, offering a next step for customers implementing the IT-as-a-Service model.”
The Brocade VDX 6720 Data Center Switches are available in one- or two-rack-unit (1U or 2U) form factors and provide the ability to scale from 16 to 60 ports with pay-as-you-grow Ports on Demand (POD) licensing. The switches provide full 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) wire-speed performance from any port to any port, with latency of 600 nanoseconds (ns). The switches are based on low-latency, lossless, 10 Gbps Data Center Bridging (DCB) technology and are capable of running all types of data and storage traffic –including traditional IP, iSCSI, CIFS, NFS and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). The Brocade VDX 6720 switches protect customers’ existing investments by supporting their current server, hypervisor and storage choices, and by seamlessly interfacing with existing network infrastructures.
The Brocade VDX 6720 switches are the first products to deliver Brocade VCS technology, announced in June 2010. This technology, which includes virtual cluster switching capabilities, transforms data center networks through innovations that are optimized for highly virtualized and cloud environments.
