* Nortel exits blade switch business while Dell dives in
Nortel last week announced that it is selling its blade-server switch business to a Nortel spin-off called Blade Network Technologies. Nortel said the move would enable it to focus on its core telecommunications business. Separately, Dell announced that it would be selling Cisco’s bladed switches.
IBM and HP both sell Nortel’s blade switch as part of their portfolio of blade server offerings. Blade Network Technologies, which is headed up by Vikram Mehta, former chief of Nortel’s blade switch business, has a target annual revenue of $300 million to $400 million by the end of the decade. The sale of the Nortel property is the first since the new CEO, Mike Zafirovski, took charge last year.
Among the switches that will be spun off to the new company are the Nortel Layer 2/3 Copper Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module, the Layer 2/3 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module and the Layer 2-7 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Model.
In other news, Dell will offer the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3030 for its Dell PowerEdge Blade Server Enclosure. The Catalyst Blade Switch 3030 allows Ethernet connectivity and because it is integrated into the blade environment can reduce cabling by up to 90%. The Cisco blade is managed with the CiscoWorks network management platform and can be configured to provide virtual LAN, traffic and policy management. In addition, they support the spanning tree algorithm for resilience and availability and have IP-based QoS capabilities.
Dell will also sell other Cisco storage switches and the company’s InfiniBand-based switches. The Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3030 starts price of $4,800 and includes three years of service and support. Dell also offers blade switch connectivity from Intel, Brocade, McData, Avocent and Qlogic.
