Blade Server Switch Modules

Blade Network Technologies is the company behind a series of switch products that are designed to be used within IBM BladeCenters, HP BladeSystems, and NEC SIGMABLADE enclosures. The products themselves are sold by those partner companies to complement their offerings; and provide a network communications channel between the actual blade servers and the rest of the customer's network. I.E., the modules are installed within the blade server chassis and include internal ports connecting to the server blades and external ports that connect to the external network; thus allowing the individual servers in the blade to connect to and communicate on the network.

Blade Network Technologies was formerly known as the Blade Server Switch Business Unit of Nortel, hence their IBM products carry the Nortel brand name. The company established itself as a private enterprise (by purchasing certain assets from Nortel) in 2006.

As aforementioned, the company offers blade switches for use in IBM BladeCenter, HP BladeSystem, and NEC SIGMABLADE enclosures.

The IBM BladeCenter switches include the Nortel Layer 2/3 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Modules (in copper and fiber versions), the Nortel Layer 2/7 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module, the Nortel 10 Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module, and the Nortel 10 Gb Ethernet Switch Module. The latter module, in particular, features 6 external and 14 internal 10 Gb ports for IBM BladeCenter H and BladeCenter HT and sports full Layer 2/3 functionality.

The HP BladeSystem offerings include the GbE2 Interconnect Switch Module, (sold by HP as the ProLiant BL p-Class GbE2 Interconnect Switch), which consolidates the 32 ethernet ports from the server blades into 1-12 external Gig Ethernet ports via the use of additional interconnect modules (which are available in both copper and fiber flavors); the GbE2c switch, which is offered in Layer 2 or Layer 2/3 flavors with 5 external (1 Gb; on the Layer 2/3 switch four of the ports can be copper or fiber via SFP modules), 16 internal, and 2 cross connect ports for HP c-Class systems; the 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch (Layer 2/3) with 16 internal ports (1 Gb), 4 1 Gb uplinks, 3 10 Gb uplinks (CX4, XFP) and a 10 Gb cross-connect for c-Class systems; and the HP 10 Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch with 16 internal and 4 uplink ports (all 10 Gb) with Layer 2/3 functionality.

Finally, the NEC SIGMABLADE offerings currently consist of three products; the 1 Gb Intelligent L2 Switch with 5 1 Gb uplinks (RJ-45), 16 internal links, and 2 cross-connects; the 1 Gb Intelligent L3 Switch which adds L3 functionality and a optional quartet of 1000SX uplink ports; and the newest entry in the family, a 10 Gb L3 switch with four 10 Gb Ethernet uplinks and sixteen 10 Gb blade connections. The 10 Gb switch is expected to ship on July 31.

Visit the IBM or HP Web sites, or contact Blade Network Technologies for further information.