Dell Network launches new switching platform and SDN features

Dell recently announced new members of its network product family to help customers enhance their network capabilities and thrive in the next generation of software-defined 10G cloud and virtualized data centers.

Dell s4820t--High-performance 1/10/40g overhead switch

The Dell s4820t overhead (ToR) switch is designed for high-performance data centers and cloud computing environments, leveraging popular twisted-pair copper cables and balancing scalability, performance, simplicity, and cost-efficient.

Dell s4820t is a feature-rich rack-top (ToR) switch with a Force10 operating system (FTOs) that supports the two-tier and three-tier functionality required by Web 2.0, enterprise, and cloud service provider data centers.

Main features include:

· 10GBASE-T connectivity-seamless migration from 1G to 10G servers: especially for customers who want to consolidate server I/O with 10G technology, Dell enables Low-cost copper connections between servers and switches to maximize investment protection and cable reuse.

· Lan/san Fusion: s4820t is also the ideal choice for customers who want to consolidate LAN and SAN traffic on a DCB universal 10G switching infrastructure, one of the first 10G copper switches in the industry to use twisted-pair cable to support Ethernet Fibre Channel (FCoE). To this end, the leading 10GBASE-T network adapter (NIC) and converged networking adapters (CNA) vendors, Broadcom, Emulex, Intel and QLogic, are testing the S4820T lab.

· High-Performance Network uplink: The S4820T is equipped with four 40G uplink with high-speed network connectivity, enabling scalable, multiple rack deployments for large customers.

Dell MXL 10/40gbe Blade switches and PowerEdge M I/o aggregators-fast-growing Dell network offerings

With the Dell MXL Blade switch and the Dell PowerEdge M I/O aggregator, Dell's network has grown rapidly in the area of blade switching, reflecting a shift in customer data centers to 10/40g technology and simpler server and storage connectivity architectures.

Dell MXL, designed with FTOs, specifically for the Dell PowerEdge m1000e Blade Server chassis, is a full-featured 1/10/40gbe two-layer and three-layer blade switch that delivers higher bandwidth, scalability, performance, and ease of use for data center and campus environments. The Dell PowerEdge M I/O aggregator provides similar connectivity options and optimizes to achieve the simplicity of Plug and Play and a fast "no configuration" deployment.

Shin Mega Blade Switch Products support local exchange of server to server (east-west) traffic within the PowerEdge m1000e chassis. This feature enables network traffic to increase network performance without the need to uplink to the data center core and return as other architectures do.

Launch commercial OpenFlow in FTOs

Dell also announced the launch of commercial openflow for its FTOs code base. The Dell Z9000 and S4810 Data center switches now support Openflow,openflow as the key technology for next-generation software definition Network (SDN) deployments. The new software is fully compatible with the existing standard OpenFlow controllers, including the Big Switch Controller from Dell's partner Big Switch NX.