New switches, line cards aimed at luring back large enterprise users.
3Com is expected to join the 10G Ethernet parade this week with the Switch 8800 series – its first line of 10G-capable backbone boxes.
3Com is expected to join the 10G Ethernet parade this week with the Switch 8800 series – its first line of 10G-capable backbone boxes.
The series includes three chassis with support for dual-port 10G and high-density Gigabit blades aimed at companies that want to ease into data center or LAN core bandwidth expansion, 3Com says, instead of high-flying switch gear with too much bang for too many bucks. 3Com is leveraging its joint venture with Huawei Technologies to deliver the gear at lower prices, observers say.
However, a challenge remains for 3Com to regain credibility among big LAN switch buyers, after its temporary exit from the market in 2000, observers say.
3Com is pursuing enterprise networks with the 8800, rather than large institutional research firms and carriers, where competitors have found early adopters. 3Com says its 10G products are aimed at businesses, government and learning institutions where LAN bandwidth is tapped out.
Among the beta customers for 3Com’s new 10G products are Covenant Healthcare, a community-owned hospital network in Knoxville, Tenn., and school districts in Palm Beach, Fla., and Vineland County, N.J.
On a speeds-and-feeds level, the 8800 series does not match up to the latest high-end 10G wares from Cisco, Enterasys Networks, Extreme Networks, Force10 Networks and Foundry Networks.
But 3Com’s strategy is to offer its existing customers “just the right” amount of 10G options as bandwidth needs grow. “We never want to be the ‘hot box’ in the market,” says Bill Naas, product manager for the Switch 8800 series. Rather, he says, the company offers 10G at competitive prices.
The switch line includes three chassis – the 14-slot 8814, 10-slot 8810 and seven-slot 8807. (The chassis require two switch fabric modules, so subtract two slots on each model for the total number of service slots available.) The first switch fabric modules for the 8800 series can handle 360G bit/sec. The blades run in tandem, and support load sharing with failover capabilities, giving 8800 series units a total backplane capacity of 720G bit/sec. Later in 2005, 3Com will release new fabric modules, each with 720G bit/sec, upping the 8800 series total capacity to 1.44T bit/sec.
The vendor says its 8800 series products with 10G Ethernet will cost up to 25% less than competitive gear, specifically Cisco’s Catalyst 6500 switch series.
A product comparison shows the 3Com box would cost around 10% less than Cisco. A a 13-slot Catalyst 6513 chassis with a 720G bit/sec fabric module, power supplies and fans starts at around $61,000; 3Com says its 8814 starts at $36,000, but an additional $20,000 switch fabric must be added to match the bandwidth of the 720G bit/sec Catalyst, bringing the 8800’s bill to $56,000.
Despite what customers might think of 3Com’s past forays into and exits from the enterprise LAN core switch market, analysts say the competitive pricing on the 8800 should get some to at least consider 3Com.
“This is pretty much a validation of the strategy 3Com had in partnering with Huawei,” says Steven Schuchart, a senior analyst with Current Analysis.
“A lot of enterprises dropped 3Com like a hot rock when they left the enterprise, and [3Com] has tried to regain a foothold in the market ever since,” he says. “The [8800 series] gives 3Com a legitimate performance product and puts them back to where they were” four years ago.
The 8800 series is the fourth enterprise product line to come from the Huawei-3Com joint venture, which was announced last year. The first was the 7700 series of midsize switch chassis, followed by the 5000 and 6000 series of WAN access routers. As with past Huawei-3Com joint venture products, the 8800 series was designed and built in China by Huawei engineers according to 3Com specifications.
3Com is rounding out its 10G offerings with a single-port 10G module for its Switch 7700 series box, which could let the device act as a 10G aggregation box between wiring closet switches and a 10G core. 3Com also is adding a 10G Ethernet uplink module to its SuperStack 3 Switch 3870 switch. This lets the 48-port 10/100/1000M bit/sec switch uplink to a 10G-enabled 7700 in the distribution layer, or directly to a core 8800 with 10G blades.
3Com’s 8814 will cost $36,000 for the chassis, fabric, power and fan modules. The 8810 costs $30,000 and the 8807 costs $26,000. Dual-port 10G Ethernet cards for the 8800 series cost $13,000 without optics. Modular 10GBase-LR (6-mile range) and ER (25-mile range) optics have not been priced yet, but will be available in the first quarter of 2005, along with the rest of the 3Com 10G gear. 3Com says it will have a copper-based 10GBase-CX4 module in the second quarter of 2005.
