Brocade Looks to Simplify Enterprise Networks

Embracing the Software-Defined Future: Looking Ahead at 2015

Moving to flatten enterprise networks from the edge inward, Brocade today unveiled a stackable campus switch that supports both Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking levels in a single platform.

Siva Valliappan, ‎vice president of the campus line of business at Brocade, says that Brocade is now applying the same level of convergence that it does inside the data center to the campus switch. In fact, Brocade claims that up to 576 1GbE ports can now be consolidated into a virtual chassis that is addressable via a single management console.

Valliappan says that as a 10G Ethernet switch, the Brocade ICX 7250 supports the OpenFlow standard to enable the company’s switches to be addressed by software-defined networking (SDN) platforms.

In addition, Brocade unveiled the Switch Port Extender that enables network services and management between Brocade ICX 7250, 7450 and 7750 switches to be shared.

Valliappan says that in addition to supporting wired network traffic, organizations can offload traffic from any wireless network onto a Brocade switch. This approach is becoming preferable, says Valliappan, in an era when controllers are being embedded directly inside access points.

Given the rate at which demand for network bandwidth is growing inside and outside of the enterprise, it’s only a matter of time before IT organizations upgrade their network infrastructure. The trick will be accomplishing that goal in a way that actually makes the enterprise networking environment simpler to manage.