HPE Introducing Storage Ethernet Switch H-Series Half-width Switch

By Kevin D, product manager, storage networking division of hybrid cloud, HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise)

New options are now available for Ethernet storage networking.

We just introduced the HPE Storage Ethernet Switch SN8325H half-width switches. Half-width switches are popular with organizations needing to save space or costs on their primary, secondary, or HCI storage connectivity. These switches are half the size of their full-width versions, but not half the performance. In fact, they have slightly better performance. The primary differences between half width and full width are the number of ports and power consumption. So, if you don’t need a lot of ports for storage connectivity and want to use less energy, the half-width size could be a suitable option. You can even put 2 half-width switches side by side in a 1U rack space. This type of setup delivers space savings and redundancy and allows you to service them separately.

2 half-width switches installed side-by-side in 1U rack space

These new half-width switches are ideal for smaller edge or colocation data centers that require limited port density or have limited rack space. They cost less than their full-width versions (sometimes a lot less), which can help free up the budget to put toward other infrastructure rather than having empty ports on a full-width switch.

Lab tested for storage compatibility
These new switches are part of the HPE Storage Ethernet Switch H-series, a group of Aruba Networking Ethernet switches that are validated to operate effectively in storage environments. Like other FC and Ethernet switches in the HPE Storage Networking portfolio, H-series switches are rigorously tested. HPE storage networking engineers rack and stack H-series switches in the lab, activate lossless configuration mode, and test them for effective communications across hundreds of transceivers, optics, cables, host operating systems, servers, server adapters, and storage systems. The test results are then published on HPE.com on the Single Point of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) page. You can expect HPE Storage Ethernet H-series switches to work reliably with numerous storage devices, servers, network adapters, and interconnects.

Powered by robust OS
Both SN8325H half-width switches use the same full-featured network OS (NOS) that the full-width version does – the HPE Aruba Networking CX Switch OS. The NOS is modern and fully programmable. It’s built using a database-driven design, which helps deliver high availability and dynamic software process changes. The cloud-native, microservices-based NOS is modular, programmable, elastic, and scalable. Each system service runs as an independent process, improving fault isolation and enabling in-service software upgrades without disrupting other services.

Just like the full-width SN8325H, the half-width SN8325H is available at different speeds and with different port configurations. Here’s a quick look at the two half-width options:

HPE SN8325H 18p SFP28 25GbE 4p QSFP28 100GbE

SN8325H 18p SFP28

The SN8325H 18p has 18 ports of 25GbE (SFP, SFP+, or SFP28) and 4 ports of 100GbE (QSFP, QSFP+, and QSFP28). The 100GbE ports can be split into 4 individual lanes of 25GbE, 10GbE, or 1GbE, taking the maximum number of ports to 34. Two general-purpose 10GbE ports can be used for telemetry or data. Options include power-to-connector (P2C) airflow or connector-to-power (C2P) airflow.

HPE SN8325H 16p QSFP28 100GbE

The SN8325H 16p has 16 ports of 100GbE (QSFP, QSFP+, and QSFP28). These 100GbE ports can be split into four individual lanes of 25GbE, 10GbE, or 1GbE, taking the maximum number of ports that can be configured to 64. Two general-purpose 10GbE ports can be used for telemetry or data.

Comes with a limited lifetime warranty
These new half-width switches come with a limited lifetime warranty. On the hardware side, the warranty includes coverage of built-in fans and power supplies and extends up through five years after the end of sale date. On the software side, it includes generally available software/OS releases for up to one year after the end of sale date and vulnerability fixes for 3 years after the end of sale date. This is just a quick summary of the warranty as it exists at launch. If you want to get the latest warranty information and the up-to-date terms and conditions, start by referring to the HPE Aruba Networking warranty and support summary.

The new half-width HPE Storage Ethernet H-series switches are available to order starting June 2, 2025.

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