In March 2012 Brocade unveiled the concept of ‘The Effortless Network’ with HyperEdge architecture designed to increase organizational agility by bringing the campus network into the modern era.
This evolutionary architecture removes the complexity of legacy campus architectures by collapsing unnecessary network layers and removing legacy protocols such as spanning tree with inactive links. In line with this vision and in pursuit of its goal to help enterprises transition to ‘The New IP’, Brocade today announced three new Campus LAN innovations.
These include include the new enterprise stackable Brocade ICX 7250 Switch that allows organizations to easily scale to address increasing campus bandwidth demands; Brocade HyperEdge Architecture Switch Port Extender that will provide further network scale and automation with shared services and management consolidation for Brocade ICX switches; and OpenFlow 1.3 support extended to Brocade ICX 7450 and 7750 switches to enable SDN solutions in LAN architectures.
“Enterprise campus networks are expected to deliver services thought impossible just a few years ago. Video conferencing, real-time collaboration, distance learning, and patient monitoring are just a few of the applications that organizations are deploying to enhance employee productivity, improve customer service, and create a competitive advantage. Additionally, anytime, anywhere mobile access has become ubiquitous with an explosion of wireless devices connected to the network, along with rising user expectations. As a result, today’s IT organizations need to quickly and efficiently transform their campus networks to support ever-changing business needs—all within constrained budgets. In short, they need to do more with less,” says Yarob Sakhnini, regional director, MEMA at Brocade.
“Brocade is leveraging its proven expertise in world-class data center SAN and Ethernet fabric networking solutions and introducing new Campus LAN innovations that will help organizations address all these challenges. The complete family of hardware and software solutions is designed for flexible scalability, simplified management, and open standards-based interoperability in multivendor best-in-class networks.”
The new Brocade® ICX® 7250 switch delivers the industry’s highest 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) port density for any switch in its class to address the onslaught of user video and wireless traffic that is taxing campus networks. It delivers 50 percent greater stacking density than comparable switches, consolidating up to 576 1 GbE ports into a virtual chassis and single management touchpoint. To ensure easily scalable network services as user applications evolve, full Layer 3 services are available for the Brocade ICX 7250 to reduce CapEx and protect existing investments.
Brocade’s centrally managed Switch Port Extender, a new HyperEdge® Architecture technology, will enable the Brocade ICX 7250 and 7450 switches to inherit advanced Brocade ICX 7750 features and capabilities, simplifying management to greatly reduce OpEx. It is designed to simplify network deployment and ongoing maintenance. Through added automation, this technology enables shared network services and management between Brocade ICX 7250, 7450, and 7750 switches distributed across the campus.
Brocade also extended OpenFlow 1.3 support to Brocade ICX 7450 and 7750 switches to enable SDN solutions in LAN architectures. Combined with the Brocade Vyatta® Controller, these switches give customers a way to begin realizing the possibilities of SDN automation. OpenFlow 1.3 is universally supported in Brocade ICX switches whether they are deployed individually, in mixed stacks, or in distributed stacks—offering SDN implementation flexibility across wiring closets.
Nolan Greene, research analyst, Network Infrastructure, IDC concludes, “A recent IDC survey of enterprise networking professionals showed that network provisioning and operational agility was the most cited primary motivation for either considering or implementing SDN solutions in both the datacenter and the campus. Brocade’s end-to-end delivery of software networking stack elements including OpenFlow 1.3 Hybrid Port Mode support on its ICX campus LAN portfolio demonstrates the growing traction of SDN across the network.”
Pricing and Availability
•General availability for the Brocade ICX 7250 begins this month with a list price starting at $2,000.
•The initial release of Switch Port Extender is planned for late 2015 and will support Brocade ICX 7750 and 7450 mixed domains. Future releases will include support for all Brocade ICX 7250, 7450, and 7750 switches.
•The Brocade ICX 7450 and 7750 OpenFlow 1.3 implementations are available this month and will support standalone mode initially, with full stacking support to follow in a future software release.
