BLADE Network Technologies recently unveiled its newest RackSwitch called the G8124 SFP+ that combines low cost per port, an electric power rating that uses 170 watts, an overall design geared toward lowering the cost of cabling and is suited for 10 Gb Ethernet switching.

 “BLADE's RackSwitch G8124 provides significant reductions in infrastructure costs by using low-cost, low-power SFP+ direct attach copper cables to connect to servers and fiber optic cables to connect across longer distances to core networks,” said Dan Tuchler, vice president of Strategy and Product Management at BLADE Network Technologies.

Though G8124 can be used in conjunction with other network systems from multi vendors, Blade says it works most effectively within a Blade rack design. Its cooling system provides two advantages: First, it uses water cooling techniques for its racks when most other racks use air. Water, with a thermal constant of 0.606 is two and a quarter times more effective than air. Second, in Blade designs cool air enters the entire front of the rack and component heated air currents are driven out of the rear side thereby creating cool aisles and hot aisles. Since hot air rises, a central suction duct located over the top of the hot aisles can then take away hot air. 

The G8124 SFP+, where SFP stands for Small Form factor Pluggable, is designed to interconnect nodes in a network with each other. The resulting mesh network created, called a switching fabric, can easily be scaled up since a theoretical maximum of 16 million devices can be connected. The hardware and software together with the mesh network are integrated to form a single software driven and controlled virtual network. This added extensibility reduces the requirements for additional and costly equipment that may have otherwise been added down the line.

Its non-blocking characteristic, sub 700 nano-seconds latency and IGMP snooping support also contribute to high performance computing.

“BLADE's RackSwitch G8124 provides significant reductions in infrastructure costs by using low-cost, low-power SFP+ direct attach copper cables to connect to servers and fiber optic cables to connect across longer distances to core networks,” said Tuchler.