Extreme Has Eye On The Future With Summit Edge Switch

The Summit 400-48, a Layer 3 Gigabit fixed form-factor switch, offers a 10-Gbit uplink via an optional two-port daughter card.

With 160-Gbps switching capacity, throughput of more than 100 million packets per second and standard Layer 3 features such as support for the 802.1x wireless security standard and Quality of Service for traffic prioritization and bandwidth management, the Summit 400-48 is built to support applications customers might add in the future, such as IP telephony and security at the edge, said John Spiliotis, vice president of North American sales at Extreme, Santa Clara, Calif.

"They don't have to worry about forklift upgrades every time a new application comes along," he said.

The switch does not support Power over Ethernet, which makes the Summit 400-48 a less-than-ideal option for IP telephony deployments, said Paul Rodwell, vice president of network operations at REH Associates, a Southfield, Mich., solution provider.

Instead, REH will likely position the new switch as a throughput play for customers looking to add more speed to their networks, he said. "The biggest interest we've seen in it is from our engineering clients, where anything they can do to get the network speed up just saves them money."

Most of REH's customers, including those in manufacturing and education, have yet to transition their networks to provide Gigabit to the desktop, Rodwell said.

Still, with a starting price of $9,995, the switch should appeal to customers looking to future-proof the network edge, Spiliotis said.

To help get the switch into solution providers' hands as soon as possible, Extreme is also launching the Summit 400-48 Quick Start Program. Through the program, Extreme's authorized North American channel partners can purchase one of the new switches, for demonstrations and testing, at a 65 percent discount.

Extreme partners can purchase the discounted switches through distributors GE Access and Tech Data through the end of March.

The Summit 400-48 is slated to ship in February. The optional daughter card, which provides two 10-Gbit Xenpak-based uplinks and four fiber-based Gigabit uplinks, is priced at $7,995.