Data center start-up Arista expands Gigabit Ethernet switch line

Network World - Arista Networks has unveiled a Gigabit Ethernet data center switch designed to better accommodate increasing traffic loads between the server access and core layers of the network.

The high throughput and bursty traffic patterns of storage, video, market data feeds and Web 2.0 applications present challenges to the network in terms of speed mismatches, reliable congestion management and consistent performance.

To address that, the Arista 7048 multilayer switch is a fixed-configuration 1RU device that sports 48 wire-speed 100/1000BASE-T Ethernet RJ-45 ports with four SFP+ 1/10Gbps Ethernet uplinks. It supports up to 40Gbps of interconnect capacity to switches in the core, or "spine" of the network.

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The switch also integrates Citrix Systems' NetScaler VPX load balancing and application security software to divvy up traffic loads across servers within a rack. VPX operates as a virtual load balancing appliance with the switch, Arista says.

The 7048 also features large buffers on each port that, combined with non-blocking operation and load balancing, help the switch manage congestion during peak traffic loads. Total shared packet memory on the switch is 768MB.

Like the existing Arista 7100 line of 1/10Gbps Ethernet data center switches, the 7048 runs the company's EOS operating system, which supports access to Linux tools, extensible network services and integration with third-party applications such as Citrix NetScaler VPX. It also features high-availability features such as stateful fault repair and in-service software upgrades, Arista says.

The 7048 is available now with a list starting price of $11,995.It will go up squarely against Cisco's Catalyst 4948 switch, Brocade's FastIron LS 648, Extreme's Summit x450a, and Force10 Networks' S25N/50N, among others.