Brocade has launched a new switch designed for the larger end of the data center market catering to organizations with high density requirements or others providing cloud service that can work with both copper and fiber-optic cabling.

 

The company said it has seen an increased demand for fiber optic cabling in the first half of this year - 13% in Western Europe and 33% in Eastern Europe. The switch addresses the need for companies still using copper that might want to upgrade to fiber down the track. 

 

At present, it is mostly large cloud computing service providers, government agencies and financial institutions adopting fiber-optic networks but its reliability means more rollouts will be seen in the m future.

 

"From a connectivity medium perspective, fiber minimizes the possibility of performance degradation compared to copper," Brocade said. "Because fiber is less susceptible to electrical interference, it is ideal in environments where magnetic fields can overpower cable shielding and cause performance degradation or complete connectivity loss."

 

The ServerIron ADX 1000F - part of Brocade’s ADX 1000 Series - also offers 50% reduction in power used and better transmission reliability, according to Brocade.

 

Yankee Group SVP and distinguished research fellow Zeus Kerravala.said many customers, especially government agencies, are looking to fiber to overcome space and power constraints which is introducing higher density hardware and cable capabilities into the data center, resulting in fewer racks.

 

"By consolidating rack space, data centers can operate within a smaller real estate footprint, which ultimately reduces energy overhead and increases rack efficiency 80% versus copper," Kerravala said.