* The rest of Foundry Networks’ Interop story
In addition to the BigIron RX series I discussed last time, Foundry Networks introduced a family of application and Web optimization switches at the Interop trade show in Las Vegas.
The ServerIronGT C-series switches have three models, optionally with Secure Sockets Layer acceleration. Foundry touted the switches’ compact size, at just 2U.
The ServerIron line is intended to be the last connection in to the servers of a data center from the outside world. They typically balance traffic loads among servers and handle routine tasks so that the servers don’t have to.
The new series sports a modular design with an application switch module, a port module, a power supply module, an expansion slot and a fan tray. A redundant power supply is optional.
The series of switches does TCP connection offload, SSL acceleration and HTTP compression, Foundry says.
The three models are: the ServerIronGT CGx2, with two Gigabit Ethernet ports, at $16,000; the C2404CF, with 24 ports of 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet and four ports of Gigabit Ethernet, at $20,000; and the CGC16, with 16 copper-based ports of 100/1000M bit/sec Ethernet, at $20,000. They are expected to ship in July.
The SSL versions are expected to ship the following month. The price increase over the basic models can be as much as $3,000.
Other products that Foundry introduced last week include the ServerIron 350 application switch, a new release of the TrafficWorks operating system and Web acceleration modules for adding SSL acceleration to ServerIron switches.
The ServerIron 350 is compact and ships with an application switch module for traffic management. Users can add another load-sharing application switch module, port modules or Web acceleration modules. The base price is $32,000 and the switch is slated to ship in July.
The new release of TrafficWorks adds support for application traffic management for Session Initiation Protocol, and a content-inspection mechanism that could be used for deep packet analysis and security. Release 9.4 is scheduled to ship next month, at no charge for customers with support contracts.
The Web acceleration modules support TrafficWorks and speed up SSL processing. They start at $10,000 and are expected to ship in August.
