Cisco Introduces New Line Of Stackable Switches

VARs will find these new switches useful in a wide variety of situations, such as smaller networks, branch offices, smaller wiring closets and space-constrained data centers. These units are designed for high-demand applications, such as networked video and IP telephony applications, as well as for networks that are rapidly evolving and need future port expansion. Cisco has a 23 percent share of stackable switches, according to market analysts at Dell'Oro, and are the No. 1 vendor in this space.

With this new line of switches, Cisco is attempting to raise the bar on price/performance, claiming that the new switches can outperform their competitors. Dell, for example, offers a 24-port Gigabit Ethernet switch which isn't stackable. Larry Birenbaum, SVP and group general manager of Cisco's Ethernet Access Group, demonstrated the four areas that Cisco is focusing on for the 3750s at the conference. The most dramatic of them is the ability for the product to self-heal when its interconnects between individual switches are broken, such as when a VAR might want to add a new switch to an existing stack. "This makes these switches perfect for non-stop operation," Birenbaum said. The switch also can automatically upgrade its firmware to match the version that is running in the remainder of the stack--without any operator intervention. Another aspect of the switch line is its ability to run a single image and be managed as a unified unit, something Cisco claims isn't available from its competitors. The final feature is its performance, with claims for 32 Gbps of raw throughput between each switch over a proprietary interconnection bus. The company has taken out 15 patents overall in developing this new product line.

"This is the first stackable switch from Cisco that is truly scaled for gigabit deployments and has the right performance characteristics to support gigabit networks," Birenbaum said. Up to nine individual switches can be stacked together. "This has been a sleeper of a product line for us, even though it accounts for over $2.5 billion in annual revenues for Cisco," he said.