Cisco unveiled its the next generation, flagship data center-class switching platform for combining Ethernet, IP, and storage capabilities across one unified network fabric. 
The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series, which sets forth the company’s Data Center 3.0 vision, represents the culmination of over $1 billion in R&D, according to the company. The platform is designed for next generation data center infrastructure deployments of virtualized servers, storage, networks and applications. Using a unified fabric would eliminate the need for parallel storage and computational networks, reducing the number of server interfaces and significantly reducing the cabling and switching infrastructure required in the data center. At the heart of the network is a lossless unified switching fabric capable of simultaneously forwarding storage, Ethernet, and IP traffic.
Cisco’s Nexus 7000 is a scalable modular platform that delivers up to 15 terabits per second (Tbps_ of switching capacity in a single chassis, supporting up to 512 10 Gbps Ethernet and future delivery of 40- and 100-Gbps Ethernet. Its unified fabric architecture combines Ethernet and storage capabilities into a single platform, designed to provide all servers with access to all network and storage resources. Key components of the unified fabric architecture include unified I/O interfaces and Fibre Channel over Ethernet support to be delivered in the future.
The design of the Nexus 7000 is also optimized for improved airflow and offers integrated cable management. The data plane is fully distributed and, when coupled with the Cisco NX-OS operating system, is designed to enable zero service-disruption upgrades on production systems. NX-OS combines the best of Cisco’s SAN-OS, Layer 2 switching, Layer 3 routing protocols, and advanced virtualization capabilities. These virtualization capabilities allow the system to be partitioned into multiple logical devices, each with its own processes and command-line interface running independent of one another. This system may be used by hosting providers and complex enterprise administrative models, to be shared by multiple administrators concurrently, each with its own switching environment.
The Nexus 7000 Series starts at $75,000. Availability is expected in Q2 2008.
http://www.cisco.com
