Force 10, a Silicon Valley maker of data center networking gear, has added a switch to its product portfolio that is purpose-built for virtualized data center environments. New attributes of the S60 top-of-rack Gigabit Ethernet switch include ultra-deep buffering and bare-metal auto-configuration.

The San Jose, Calif.-based vendor designed the product to handle highly dynamic traffic patterns generated by virtualized multi-core servers and "bursty" applications such as streaming and storage. S60 aims to avoid network congestion at the I/O these conditions may cause. The switch is currently under testing and Force 10 expects to start shipping it at the end of June.


Force 10 S60 switch. Image courtesy of Force 10

"Virtualization and web 2.0 computing applications generate tremendous and unpredictable I/O traffic for today's data center networks," Zeus Kerravala, SVP at the IT industry research firm Yankee Group, said in a statement. "Force10 has a keen understanding of this issue, and its innovative approach of using large, tunable buffers with the new S60 switch merits closer consideration for data center managers looking to improve performance and lower latency for these types of applications."

The 1U switch is capable of packet buffering at 1.25GB. It features line-rate switching, with 48GbE ports and up to four optional 10GbE uplinks. The bare-metal auto-configuration feature allows for automatic configuration of the switch from a central database as soon as it first boots up.

The design allows for up to 12 units to be stacked vertically or horizontally. The box allows for front-to-back airflow and features redundant hot-swappable AC or DC power supplies.

According to many industry analysts, Ethernet switching technology has been enjoying widespread growth in demand. Data center customers are responsible for much of this growth, increasingly adopting virtualization and the various cloud computing service delivery models.