Data centre switching platform

3Com has launched an extensible data centre switching platform and a next-generation management platform. The H3C S12500 data centre aggregation and high-end enterprise core switch is built on a modern system architecture that delivers 2.2 billion packets per second (Bpps) of forwarding through a 6.6 Tbps non-blocking fabric, with up to 128 non-blocking 10 Gb or 864 non-blocking gigabit ethernet ports and 50% less power consumption than competing products; a combination that delivers lower total cost of ownership (TCO) in both capex and opex.

The switching platform is managed with the H3C end-to-end enterprise-class management solution, Intelligent Management Centre (IMC), which provides a single-pane management of the entire heterogeneous enterprise network infrastructure and integrates with existing systems.

With its TCO by Design development methodology applied to the H3C S12500 large-scale switching platform and SOA-based H3C IMC management platform, the company says it demonstrates it is now possible to change the fundamental economics of the data centre and broader enterprise network without compromising performance or feature support.

The H3C S12500 platform supports a wide range of extensible embedded services ranging from high-performance security and application optimisation services to virtualised network services. This enables IT to adjust to evolving business requirements and to rapidly provision and enable new services that are closely aligned with operational priorities. The platforms also offer a clear transition path for customers to consolidate physically disparate data centres through a single connective switch fabric with built-in redundancy and resilience through the H3C Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF). IRF delivers local and geographically distributed high-availability, resiliency and traffic load balancing. It enables enterprises to build a ‘pay-as-you-grow’ network core, seamlessly adding 10 Gb and gigabit ethernet ports to expand density as needs evolve.