Broadcom introduced a 16-port 2.5 Gigabit single-chip switch that uses existing Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network infrastructure to deliver simultaneous 1 GbE and 2.5 Gigabit connectivity in blade servers.
The new BroadcomStrataXGS III 2.5 Gigabit switch is optimized for blade servers. It works in conjunction with Broadcom’s NetXtreme II converged network interface controller (C-NIC), and includes 4 ports of 10GbE. The device features auto-negotiation of both 1GbE and 2.5 Gigabit, which allows each port to simultaneously support either 1GbE or 2.5 Gigabit speeds, and enables individual deployment of blades in a plug-and-play fashion. Also featured within the BCM56580 is the Broadcom ContentAware engine, which provides deep-packet inspection (Layers 2 – 7), allowing the switch to identify and prioritize various types of traffic including IP-based storage, clustering, management and data networking.
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