Cisco has once again demonstrated that it has its finger on the pulse when it comes to innovation and competitive edge as the networking equipment provider recently unveiled its latest solution for storage area networks, the Cisco MDS 9710 Multilayered Director Switch. This Cisco switch is the latest and most versatile top director-class storage switch available to date.
What Benefits Does It Deliver?
Touted for its ability to deliver higher performance, scalability and reliability than other competing systems, the new director-class SAN switch delivers three times the bandwidth of any storage director in the industry. Scalability is a major benefit of this product due to the increased demand that enterprises are placing on data storage systems. According to a March, 2012 estimation by IDC, data storage needs are growing at an annual compound growth rate of 61.4 percent through 2015.
Let’s explore how Cisco is ushering us into the next era of IP storage and communication.
What Does It Do?
The MDS 9710 can switch up to 24 terabits per second, delivering six times more bandwidth than the Cisco 9500 series director and capable of supporting both file and block storage. In addition, the switch is capable of utilizing Fiber Channel, Fiber Channel over Ethernet and IBM Fiber Connectivity (FICON). This means that the machine is both a storage area network (SAN) as well as a local area network (LAN).
Cisco MDS 9710: Additional Product Features
- Fully redundant (N+1) fans
- 48 ports at 16 gbps Fiber Channel
- 48 ports of 10 Gbps FCoE
- Modular design
- Fully scalable to support increased storage demands
- Uses the same interface and operating system as previous Cisco switches
Whether you are big fan or dedicated user of Cisco products or not, one can't deny Cisco's commitment to pushing technology forward and affecting change.