Cisco released an addition to their Nexus series data center switching line, the Nexus 5020. The Nexus 5020 packs 1.04 terabit of switching capacity into a 2 RU top of rack chassis. Inside this chassis you have 40 10 Gig Ethernet ports, as well as modular slots that can accept 12 extra 10 Gig ports, or 8 port Fibre Channel cards for a total of 56 available ports.
This switch answers a fundamental problem that has been presented by blade centers and VMware. The problem is increasing density of 10 Gig Ethernet, as well as the creation of SAN islands to provide storage access to VMware ESX clusters. The Nexus 5020 provides a solution that addresses both of these challenges, as well as supporting Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE) for the eventual move to a consolidated data center fabric in the years to come.
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