Cross-Connect Blog

Industry News: Making the 'Switch' to 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet

April 02, 2012

Cisco logoWhen Cisco recently announced the introduction of 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) capabilities for its data center-minded Nexus 7000 Switches (and 40 GbE only on its Catalyst 6500 Switches), the message was loud and clear: the need for speed in today’s most technologically-advanced infrastructure environments (think cloud and video) isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

In fact, according to its own Cisco Cloud Index, “global cloud traffic will grow more than 12 times by 2015, to 1.6 zettabytes per year – the equivalent of over four days of business-class video for every person on Earth.”

To alleviate what it calls the “bandwidth bottlenecks” that are starting to develop at the crossroads between data centers and service providers thanks to this rapid growth, Cisco’s adoption of 10 GbE at the server level is a trend that many others, such as Juniper and Brocade, are already beginning to follow.

N-Series TeraFrame® Network CabinetChatsworth Products, Inc. (CPI) is already well suited to support a variety of existing Cisco switches, including the 9509, 9513, 6500, 7010 and 7018. For the Nexus 7018 in particular, CPI created a unique N-Series TeraFrame® Cabinet that includes a network switch exhaust duct that supports one Cisco switch chassis, along with two solid, keyed side panels that are offset to provide extra interior space for enhanced side-to-side airflow and cable management. Watch this short video overview for even more details.

 

Noted in the video, CPI also offers furcation brackets to support pre-terminated fiber that provides 10GbE connectivity to servers. In particular partnership with Corning Cable Systems and their popular LANscape® Pretium EDGE Solution, the amount of space occupied by cabling in such high density cabinets is drastically reduced, while other elements such as air circulation and future moves, adds and changes are improved. Given this solution's ability for adapation, it too should also easily upgrade to future 40 and 100GbE connections.

As the entire 40/100GbE roadmap continues to unfurl, you can be sure that CPI’s compass is always fixed firmly on being ahead of the pack. For the latest methods on how to support these new trends, contact CPI Technical Support. Jeff Cihocki, Global eContent Specialist 

Search CPI in the News