Brocade VDX switches are designed to help organizations stay ahead of application-driven network change by enabling agile growth through a scale-out architecture. This approach offers three key benefits. First, it enables network expansion as a business grows over time. One can horizontally scale spine switches as the number of leaf switches increase. Second, scale-out architecture also enables the creation of resilient network fabrics, eliminating a single point of failure and potential downtime. Third, and most important, a scale-out network architecture delivers a compelling economic benefit. Unlike scale-up, a scale-out model lowers upfront investment. And by using highdensity fixed switches, it lowers the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), reducing power, cooling, and data center space.
The Brocade VDX 6940-36Q is a fixed 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) optimized switch in a 1U form factor. It offers 36 40 GbE QSFP+ ports and can be deployed as a spine or leaf switch. Each 40 GbE port can be broken out into four independent 10 GbE SFP+ ports, providing a total of 144 10 GbE SFP+. Deployed as a spine, it provides possibilities to connect either 40 GbE or 10 GbE uplinks from leaf switches. By deploying this highdensity, compact switch, administrators can reduce their TCO through savings on power, space, and cooling. The 10 GbE and 40 GbE ports can be mixed, offering flexible design options to cost-effectively support demanding data center and service provider environments. The Brocade VDX 6940-36Q offers Ports on Demand (PoD). Compared to classic Ethernet architectures, Ethernet fabrics allow all paths to be active and provide greater scalability - while reducing management complexity.
Brocade VDX 6940 Switches provide the advanced feature set that data centers require while delivering the high performance and low latency virtualized environments demand. Together with Brocade data center fabrics, these switches transform data center networks to support the New IP by enabling cloudbased architectures that deliver new levels of scale, agility, and operational efficiency. These highly automated, software-driven, and programmable data center fabric design solutions support a breadth of network virtualization options and scale for data center environments ranging from tens to thousands of servers. Moreover, they make it easy for organizations to architect, automate, and integrate current and future data center technologies while they transition to a cloud model that addresses their needs, on their own timetable and on their terms.
