Networking Start-up Only Has Eyes For The Data Center

Company: Blade Network Technologies

Headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif.

Technology Sector: Networking

Key Product: RackSwitch data center switches

Year Founded: 2006

Number of Channel Partners: Fewer than 10

Ideal Channel Partner: Enterprise-focused solution provider

Why You Should Care: Blade Network Technologies aims to cut the cost and complexity of data center networking, delivering 10-Gb switches for less than $500 per port.

The Lowdown: Blade Network Technologies CEO Vikram Mehta makes it perfectly clear that his company isn't targeting the entire network infrastructure market with its line of top-of-rack data center switches.

Instead, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor knows its place: "We are singularly focused on the data center space," he said.

Blade RackSwitch

While other data center networking players made their way into the data center market by way of the wiring closet, Blade has no such history, taking a purely data-center-focused point of view. With that philosophy in mind, the company aims its blade switches at solution providers that deliver Hewlett-Packard BladeSystem and IBM BladeCenter servers.

Blade takes its approach through what it calls the "law of rackonomics," which dictates that for every network switch deployed at the blade server, rack or container level instead of in the core network, a company can gain up to 13 times greater throughput per dollar, a 90 percent smaller footprint, an 80 percent reduction in complexity and freedom of choice.

On the back of its RackSwitch data center switches, Blade has launched a new channel program that gives data center solution providers access to the RackSwitch family, which Mehta said offers low-cost, low-latency, low-power and loss-less Ethernet networking with a 10-Gb Ethernet offering for roughly $498 per port. RackSwitch also supports Fibre Channel over Ethernet. In the near future, RackSwitch will also support Blade's SmartConnect with VMready, which lets a large data center network be managed as a single virtual switch.

The RackSwitch partner program arms data center solution providers with new products and services. It also offers training and certification initiatives and technical assistance, along with other incentives. Mehta added that solution providers offering HP and IBM servers can easily add Blade to their product rosters, making them solution players instead of just product pushers.

"We really tried to make sure we align ourselves with the big server guys," Mehta said. "We're fast and furiously trying to get the word out. The path to success is to help channel partners get into the pole position with their customers.