Omni Switch 6900-X72

OVERVIEW

The Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise OmniSwitch® 6900-X72 (OS6900-X72) Stackable LAN and data center switch is a newest addition to the OmniSwitch 6900 family of switches, offering compact, high-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 40 Gig Ethernet platforms.

In addition to high performance and extremely low latency, the OS6900-X72 offers VXLAN, OpenFlow, Shortest Path Bridging (SPB), data center bridging (DCB) capabilities, QoS, Layer-2 and Layer-3 switching, as well as system and network level resiliency. They are designed for the most demanding software-defined operations in virtualized or physical networks and converged data centers.

The new OS6900-X72 platform brings greatly reduced latency over the existing OmniSwitch family members with 40GbE and 10GbE combinations.

TARGET MARKET OPPORTUNITY

The OmniSwitch 6900 family provides unmatched versatility in a stackable LAN switch. Whether in the data center environment or in the enterprise’s converged network, the OmniSwitch 6900 family provides a comprehensive set of standards-based features that allow it to integrate easily into many different network environments and allows the customer to choose best of breed equipment without fear of being locked-in to a single vendor.

OmniSwitch 6900-X72  in the Data Center

The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 brings a number of new innovations in the data center.

• It provides a high capacity, low latency core switch with up to 6 40GbE ports in a single 1 Rack Unit (RU) form factor. Leveraging splitter cables, each OS6900-X72 system can support upwards of 72 10GbE ports, while halving the latency over the existing OS6900-X20/40 models.
• This increased capacity enables an even more scalable, cost effective data center solution. When using the OS6900-X72 in the award-winning Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Mesh, the OS6900-X72 allows the individual Pods to scale upwards to 288 server-facing ports, all with 40GbE interconnection, delivered with only 1 microsecond latency, and all managed as a single element. With full compatibility across the OmniSwitch 6900 platforms, customers can design their Data Center Pod with a mix of OmniSwitch 6900 systems, given them flexibility to have dedicated Fiber Channel integration, cost-effective 10G-base-T server connectivity and the high performance/high density 40GbE support with the OmniSwitch 6900-X72 – all with automated deployment and managed as a single entity as part of the Intelligent Fabric technology.
• The OmniSwitch 6900-X72, along with the OmniSwitch 10K and the rest of the OmniSwitch 6900 family, includes Intelligent Fabric technology, which automates the deployment of the system, delivering self-attachment to other network devices and applications. This can dramatically reduce the time/effort that the Data Center IT team needs to roll out the network.
• The OmniSwitch 6900-X72, along with the OmniSwitch 10K and the other OmniSwitch 6900 platforms support VXLAN Overlay technology, recognizing virtual machines in a consistent manner whether they are in a VXLAN overlay environment or a native environment. This recognition is an enhancement to the Virtual Network Profile (vNP) technology introduced 3 year ago by Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, giving visibility and policy enforcement (Security, QoS, etc.) of the applications across both the virtual and physical network.
• Additional enhancements are also being made to the vNP technology. The vNP technology now supports secure virtual machines using 802.1x authentication.    Secure virtual machines can be used by application teams to ensure that only production-quality applications are released to employees and customers.
• The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 also includes a VXLAN hardware gateway.   The VXLAN hardware gateway enables the dynamic discovery and provisioning of the virtual tunnels and provides simple connectivity between the network virtualization environment and the native network.   This technology enables IT teams to create services without requiring labor-intensive core networking changes.

OmniSwitch 6900-X72 for Converged Network LAN Core

• The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 has industry-leading 40GbE port density in a 1RU chassis and can be deployed as either a small network’s core switch or as a high capacity aggregation switch. The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 with its combination of high port density and network virtualization capabilities with Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) enables a resilient and simplified architecture for the core of a converged network, with flexible scalability with a significantly lower CAPEX outlay than traditional chassis solutions.
• OPEX expenses are also reduced with the OmniSwitch 6900. The integrated Intelligent Fabric technology allows automated deployment of the OmniSwitch 6900-X72 and self-attachment of access switches and other devices to the network, and enables up to 6 units to be managed as a single virtual chassis solution.   Flexibility is also assured, as these six units can be any of the OmniSwitch 6900 family members.
• And for smaller enterprises that do not have dedicated data centers, the OmniSwitch 6900 is the perfect choice, as the virtual chassis can include OmniSwitch 6900’s connecting to the server farms and the network core OmniSwitch 6900’s, reducing additional network devices needs and simplifying operations.

In addition, the support of Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP) makes it an ideal aggregation switch in campus rings. The OmniSwitch 6900-X72, as with the other OmniSwitch 6900’s, also includes application fingerprinting capabilities, which  enables conversations to be managed in context by providing a rich set of QoS controls.  This is an essential element for the LAN core in delivering on the Application Fluent Network strategy for a high quality end user experience.

OS6900-X72 Front

OS6900-X72 Rear

OS6900-X72 Left Profile

OmniSwitch 6900-X72

• Fixed form factor
• 48 10GbE and 6 x 40GbE, scalable to 72 10GbE ports
• All ports on front of switch
• Latency: ~650ns, about ½ the latency of the OmniSwitch 6900-X20/40 models

New Transceivers

• OmniSwitch 10K and OmniSwitch 6900 family (except the OS6900-Q32 and X72): New extended range 10G SFP: SFP-10G-ZR.   Reaches up to 80km (OS10K & OS6900, except the OS6900-Q32 and X72)
• OmniSwitch 6900-Q32 and X72 Only: 40G Splitter cables:
  • 40G Direct Attached Splitter cables: QSFP-4X10G-C1M, QSFP-4X10G-C3M, QSFP-4X10G-C5M
  • 40G fiber transceiver: QSFP-4X10G-SR

WHAT’S NEW?

KEY BENEFITS

Partner Benefits:

• Intelligent Fabric technology greatly reduces the deployment time and eliminates error-prone manual configuration, enabling more cost-effective bids to help win more business.
• Lowers ongoing customer support issues. With self-healing, auto-attachment and auto-configuration, the Intelligent Fabric technology can reduce the number of trouble tickets a customer issues as a result of configuration and resiliency issues.
• Single system that can support multiple deployment models, simplifying stocking. The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 can act as a Data Center TOR or core system, Converged campus core or aggregation/distribution switch.
• Mix and Match deployment in a single Pod with other members of the OmniSwitch 6900, to provide the best solution to the customer’s needs with the lowest cost.

Customer Benefits:

• Cost-effective, highly scalable system to support a range of applications – from Data Center Top of Rack and core deployments to converged campus core and aggregation/distribution deployments.
• Intelligent Fabric technology to greatly reduce the time to design, deploy and manage the systems.
• Simplified management through virtual chassis technology where a set of OmniSwitch 6900 switches can be managed as a single switch
• High availability with power supply redundancy, virtual chassis technology and In Service Software upgrade (ISSU) when in a virtual chassis environment.
• Mix and match OmniSwitch 6900 platforms in the same virtual chassis (either in campus or data center deployments) to meet your deployment requirements.
• Reduced efforts to provision other network equipment connectivity by automatically recognizing devices that use standards-based protocols
• Improved data center workflow management through automated network provisioning during Virtual Machine movement.
• Integrated VXLAN support, providing full application visibility to virtual machines in both a virtual or physical network. This provides customers the ability to assign application QoS to these virtual machines in a consistent fashion no matter what technology they are deploying.
• Reduced operations expense with lower power consumption than similar competitor systems from Dell, HP and Cisco.
• Limited lifetime warranty reduces ongoing support costs.
• VXLAN Gateway support enables connectivity between network virtualization and physical network infrastructures, providing the ability to deliver data center to data center interconnection and network extensions across the core without operational overhead.
• Application visibility and policy enforcement (QoS, Security, Priority) with automatic virtual machine detection across both the virtual and physical network.
• Visibility and history of Virtual Machine movement, visibility of service levels between Virtual Machines and interfacing to hypervisor systems with OmniVista 2500 Management System
• Ready for the future with support for programmability through the OpenFlow protocol and publicly available OpenStack plug-in
• Single system that can support multiple deployment models, simplifying stocking and redeployment of the system to meet changing capacity or architectural needs.   The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 (and all OmniSwitch 6900 & 10K systems) can act as Data Center TOR or core system, Converged campus core or aggregation/distribution switch.