IBM Reselling Cisco Nexus 5000

Cisco Nexus 5000 switches for IBM System Storage are designed for data center environments with technology that supports consistent low-latency Ethernet solutions, with front-to-back cooling, and with network ports in the rear, bringing switching into close proximity with servers and making cable runs short and simple. The switch family is designed to be highly serviceable, with optional redundant, hot-pluggable power supplies and fan modules. It uses data center-class Cisco NX-OS to support high reliability and ease of management.

The switch family, using cut-through architecture, supports line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet on all ports while maintaining consistent low latency independent of packet size and services enabled. The product family supports IEEE Data Center Bridging and Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) capabilities that can help increase the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of Ethernet networks. These features allow the switch to support multiple traffic classes over a Ethernet fabric, thus enabling consolidation of LAN, SAN, and cluster environments. Its ability to connect Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) to native Fibre Channel protects existing storage system investments while dramatically simplifying in-rack cabling.

In addition to supporting standard 10 Gigabit Ethernet network interface cards (NICs) on servers, the Cisco Nexus 5000 switches integrate with multifunction adapters called converged network adapters (CNAs) that combine the functions of Ethernet NICs and Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs), making the transition to a single, unified network fabric consistent with existing practices, management software, and operating system drivers. The switch family is compatible with integrated transceivers and Twinax cabling solutions to help deliver cost-effective connectivity for 10 Gigabit Ethernet to the servers at the rack level, reducing or eliminating the need for expensive optical transceivers.

New expansion module and SFP transceivers
of Cisco Nexus 5000 for IBM System Storage switches:

• Cisco Nexus 5010 for IBM System Storage 28 port switch (3722-S51): 8 Gb Fibre Channel expansion module; 8 Gb Fibre Channel short wave and long wave SFP transceivers
• Cisco Nexus 5020 for IBM System Storage 56 port switch (3722-S52): 8 Gb Fibre Channel expansion module; 8 Gb Fibre Channel short wave and long wave SFP transceivers

The Cisco Nexus 5000 for IBM System Storage switches are a family of line-rate, low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) switches for data center applications.

Features of the new 8 Gb Fibre Channel expansion
modules and 8 Gb Fibre Channel short wave
and long wave SFP transceivers include:

• 8 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Module capable of 8 Gbps, 4 Gbps, 2 Gbps, and 1 Gbps Fibre Channel. (#4040) 1 Gbps requires 4 Gb FC transceivers (#5710 or #5720).
• 8 Gb Fibre Channel Short Wave SFP transceivers (#5730) for speeds of 8 Gbps, 4 Gbps, or 2 Gbps Fibre Channel up to 100 meters on multimode optical fiber.
• 8 Gb Fibre Channel Long Wave SFP transceivers (#5740) for speeds of 8 Gbps, 4 Gbps, or 2 Gbps Fibre Channel up to 10 kilometers on single mode optical fiber.

Cisco Nexus 5000 for IBM System Storage switches (3722-S51/S52) require Cisco Nexus NX-OS Software Release 4.2, or later.

Planned availability date: February 19, 2010