In addition, Brocade is also launching the most competitive 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) solution on the market to address the exponential increase in global traffic that carriers must distribute.

The new Brocade MLXe router and 100 GbE module are based on IEEE standards, fulfilling the four value propositions of the Brocade One™ unified network vision: seamless connectivity, investment protection, unmatched simplicity, and optimized applications. These value propositions align with customer demands and help them stay at the forefront of innovation while presenting a clear growth trajectory for next-generation networks.

Building on the track record of more than 9,000 routers deployed in carriers and data centers, the new Brocade MLXe routers provide customers with a price/performance ratio in 100 GbE that helps them generate higher revenue streams with a fully future-proof infrastructure. Their unprecedented performance levels enable next-generation virtual data centers to handle the growing demand for application traffic and deliver cloud-based services using less hardware, greatly improving operational efficiency and reducing capital costs.

To protect network infrastructure investments, the new Brocade MLXe routers are fully interoperable and support all Brocade MLX and XMR blades. This approach represents a logical product evolution that allows for future network expansion. Customers using Brocade's MLX router can also take advantage of the power and performance benefits of 100GbE technology, as the 100GbE module is integrated and works in all Brocade MLX, MLXe, and NetIron XMR routers.

In the words of Ken Cheng, Vice President of Service Provider Products at Brocade, “These new solutions are technological advancements developed to help service providers and other customers scale down their infrastructure levels, enabling reduced overhead and massive scalability without compromising performance or efficiency. With these solutions, Brocade is fulfilling its promise made after announcing its Brocade One vision to help customers migrate to a world where information and services are available anywhere in the cloud.”

Redefining service provider scalability and costs from the access network to the core,
service providers must now continuously assess their network requirements to manage the surge in internet traffic driven by increased broadband penetration, the rise of bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications, and mobile applications worldwide. With a capacity of 15.36 Terabits per second (Tbps), the Brocade MLXe ensures greater simplicity with significantly less infrastructure and processing time, providing four times the wire-speed density and nine times the system capacity of competing routers. It can also transfer more traffic on a single routing platform than any other equipment on the market.

To help reduce operating expenses and facilitate service provider expansion, the new 100GbE modules cost only a fraction of what competing solutions cost. When installed on Brocade MLXe routers, the new 100GbE modules enable service providers to deploy the innovative Terabit-per-second link, which utilizes multiple ports on a single logical link for increased bandwidth and simplified management.

This technology supports the transmission of half a million high-definition video streams over a unified management connection and provides more than double the operational efficiency of competing offerings at a significantly lower cost. The result is greater profitability, helping service providers deliver high-performance yet affordable broadband connectivity and services to their subscribers.

According to Denver Maddux, Vice President of Network Engineering at Limelight Networks, Inc., “Performance, scalability, and investment protection are key features of our global network platform design. We are experiencing rapid traffic growth due to mobile and web video downloads. Therefore, it is important that we can cost-effectively upgrade our routing platform to support this growth. Routers like the Brocade MLXe and the 100GbE module pave the way for us to massively increase capacity and scalability across our network to anticipate future needs.”

Next-Generation Virtual Data Centers:
Increasing data center network capacity has become critical for service scaling, driven by server virtualization and rich media content, which require more servers to connect via wire-speed connectivity. Furthermore, data center deployments demand highly scalable performance attributes and a simplified design.

The Brocade MLXe router meets these requirements as a complete solution integrating high-performance switching/routing with massive system capacity to close network layers. Its throughput of 4.8 billion packets per second provides five times the IPv6 routing capacity compared to competing solutions. This exceptional performance helps data centers support more network traffic using a significantly smaller portion of their infrastructure, with the added benefit of long-term investment protection.

Uninterrupted connectivity and a reduced architectural complexity are also essential elements for next-generation data centers. The recently introduced Brocade MLXe router and Multi-Chassis Trunk (MCT) simplify data center networks and increase availability for customers migrating to 10GbE servers. This advancement facilitates network-level virtualization and improves network reliability while significantly reducing management complexity.

Unified network management for complete control of SAN and IP infrastructures:
Brocade has also introduced Brocade Network Advisor, an innovative unified network management solution for Brocade Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), wireless, Ethernet switching, and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), providing end-to-end network visibility in a single application. This solution allows customers to automatically discover Brocade's complete networking portfolio, including IP/MPLS routers such as the new Brocade MLXe, as well as Ethernet switches, application delivery controllers, wireless LAN, Fibre Channel SAN switches, and FCoE switches. In keeping with the Brocade One vision, the Brocade Network Advisor is a common management platform that unifies all Brocade network solutions to maximize end-to-end infrastructure visibility from a single application.