BLADE Network Technologies has announced the new 10 gigabit Intelligent L3 Switch and 1 gigabit Intelligent L2 Switch with SmartPanel for NEC (News - Alert) SIGMABLADE blade server systems. The company claims that this will enable NEC blade servers to offer high-throughput, low-latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity needed for energy-efficient server virtualization workloads and converged "single fabric" networks.

 

The 10Gb switch for NEC SIGMABLADE is for NEC and BLADE to bring the Rackonomics for "virtual, cooler and easier" rack-level provisioning of today's massively scaled-out server and storage networks on industry-standard Ethernet.

 

BLADE Network Technologies is the supplier of Gigabit and 10Gb Ethernet network infrastructure solutions that reside in blade servers and "scale-out" server and storage racks.

 

BLADE's SmartPanel for NEC SIGMABLADE blade servers is a user selectable operating mode of 1Gb Intelligent L2 Switch designed to meet the requirements of customers with simple network infrastructure requirements or limited on-site networking skills.

 

The BLADE’s SmartPanel is claimed as an easy-to-use Gigabit Ethernet connectivity set up, without sacrificing the benefits of embedded Ethernet switching. In addition, BLADE's embedded Ethernet switches for NEC blade servers reduce power consumption by 95 percent per 10Gb Ethernet port compared to 10Gb Ethernet modules used in chassis-based network switches.

 

BLADE claims that their servers equipped with 10Gb Ethernet links are emerging as the ideal platform for today's server virtualization workloads using hypervisors such as VMware, Hyper-V and Xen. Organizations deploying a single fabric for their converged networks can now also realize the advantages of 10Gb Ethernet blade switches at less than $500 per 10Gb port for the new BLADE modules.

 

"As NEC strives to fulfill its role as Japan's leading provider of PC servers, our customers see the value of integrated blade server networking and are seeking to implement 10 Gigabit Ethernet networking at the blade server level for the utmost flexibility in meeting today's ever more demanding requirements for network convergence, hyper consolidation, and advanced energy efficiency," said Kimihiko Fukuda, general manager of client and server division, NEC. "In partnership with BLADE Network Technologies, NEC is enabling our customers to implement 'full-throttle' 10 Gigabit Ethernet blade server networking with 'Rackonomics,' enabling a rack-level approach to affordably, easily, and efficiently scale-out next generation data centers."

 

"Our new all-10Gb Ethernet switch for NEC SIGMABLADE is the ideal blade networking solution for data centers that are overloaded with cables, crunched for bandwidth and space, and are seeking the utmost power and cooling efficiencies," said Vikram Mehta, president and CEO of BLADE Network Technologies.

 

"Twenty 10Gb Ethernet ports provide ample switching bandwidth to ensure that bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive applications such as server virtualization, VoIP, Video On Demand, and High Performance Computing (HPC), can be delivered with high availability. In addition, as a flexible way of connecting blade servers with existing network topologies, our new SmartPanel for NEC SIGMABLADE provides high-throughput server connectivity to existing aggregation networks,” explained Mehta.