Blade switch specialist Blade Network Technologies and 10 Gigabit Ethernet vendor NetXen have collaborated to deliver what they describe as “the industry’s first solution offering 10GE connectivity for blade servers”.
Blade and NetXen are members of Blade.org, an organisation set up by IBM to encourage development of third-party products on its blade server platform.
The product-set includes Blade Network Technologies’ Nortel 10Gbit Ethernet switch module (10GbESM) and the NetXen 10G Ethernet expansion card, which provides 10GE.
The Blade 10GE switch provides 20 10GE ports — 14 inside the chassis and six external ports for connection to the network. The switch is used with IBM’s BladeCenter platform in conjunction with NetXen’s new dual-port 10GE expansion card, which also supports multi-protocol off-load.
The combination is claimed to improve throughput and reduce host CPU utilisation to boost system performance, and enable a converged network fabric consisting of data and storage.
Blade Network Technologies marketing manager Shailesh Naik says: “Working with NetXen and other Blade.org members has enabled us to innovate and create products at the cutting edge. Together, we offer our enterprise customers integrated solutions that extend the market for blade systems into hot new areas like VoIP, IPTV, gaming and security.”
NextXen president Dave Pulling says: “Our collaboration with Blade Network Technologies, to deliver the blade server industry’s first native 10-Gigabit Ethernet solution, is an important milestone. Working together through Blade.org, we have brought to market an end-to-end solution at breakthrough pricing. We are taking datacentre performance and affordability to the next level for enterprise customers, and paving the way for mainstream adoption of 10GE blade systems.”