As servers and storage start to merge into unified, virtualized systems, Cisco
wants to do the same thing with the networks that connect them.

On Monday, the company is set to unveil a data-center networking platform that
eventually could take the place of both the Ethernet switches that link servers
as well as the Fibre Channel devices that form storage networks. The Nexus series
is designed both to meet exploding demands for bandwidth and energy efficiency
within data centers and to simplify the jobs of IT administrators. In the process,
it could help give Cisco the central role it seeks in IT infrastructure.

Cisco is already a leading player in data-center networks with its Catalyst
series Ethernet switches and its MDS storage network platform. Now it hopes
to transcend those separate systems using a single, unified switching fabric
and the emerging Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) standard. The platform it
will use, called Nexus, will be a line of routing switches in chassis, rack-mounted
and blade form. The first of these, the Nexus 7000 chassis, will be generally
available in the second quarter. Prices will start at US$75,000, but a typical
configuration will cost about $200,000, according to Jayshree Ullal, senior
vice president of Cisco's Data Center, Switching and Security Technology Group.

Mark Drake is looking at the Nexus platform for future-proofing as his company,
Health Management
Associates, centralizes its data resources. The company runs about 60 hospitals,
mostly in the Southeastern U.S. Health Management's current Catalyst switches
are probably enough to handle connectivity needs in its data centers for the
next two years, but it's hard to predict storage and processing requirements
beyond that as he looks for the next generation, Drake said.

"I'm looking at a little over ten years' capacity," Drake said. The
Nexus line is built to go far beyond the scale of the Catalysts, delivering
more than 15T bits per second. "The capacity to grow is huge," he
said.

Another benefit Drake sees in the Nexus, which he has been told about but hasn't
tested, is ease of management. Health Management is already trying to reduce
IT staff costs by consolidating data centers from each hospital to a two main
locations. Because the new platform combines storage and data switching along
with security in a single switch and management interface, it could further
simplify running those data centers, he said.

Initially, Cisco sees the Nexus switches at the core of data centers that still
use separate networks for processing and storage. But as FCoE emerges in storage
systems, the Nexus could become the single connectivity platform, Ullal said.
Its switching fabric is designed to be lossless, unlike a standard Ethernet
system, which tolerates dropped packets, said Tom Edsall, senior vice president
and CTO of the data center group. The platform also has built-in security features,
including wire-speed encryption and authentication capability for each port.

At the heart of the platform is a new, virtualized operating system, NX OS.
As with server virtualization, NX OS can turn a Nexus switch into multiple logical
switches running totally different processes, Ullal said . For example, one
logical switch could handle storage and be managed by storage specialists, while
the other links servers and is run by a different staff. A third could be a
test platform. All would use a single switching fabric and set of redundant
power supplies, which provides benefits in performance, economies of scale and
resiliency, she said. This virtualized architecture eventually will trickle
down to other Cisco product lines, according to Ullal.

Cisco also has automated some aspects of management with the Nexus line, drawing
on best practices it learned partly from its customers, Edsall said. The system
is designed to monitor and heal itself in many cases.

The network's role in data centers is growing as computing and storage are
combined and shared, according to industry analysts. It's now the "orchestrator"
of the data center, Zeus Kerravala of Yankee
Group said. Cisco is the only vendor with both the networking and the computing
experience to fulfill that role, he believes. But though many managers of data
centers want to see total virtualization of the data center, which could boost
efficiency, they aren't yet ready for it.

"We're just entering the very early stages of the virtual data center,"
Kerravala said. "This is probably at least two years away."

Cisco is best positioned to build the core of data centers because the network
touches everything in it, according to Ullal, Edsall, and other executives.

"For Cisco, it's very critical that this platform be a launching pad to
go further up the IT stack," said IDC's Cindy Borovick. However, taking
control of data centers won't be a walk in the park, she cautioned.

"Cisco's in a very strong position, but there are other very large suppliers
that recognize how important the data center is and are willing to invest the
R&D dollars," Borovick said, citing IBM
and Sun Microsystems. To Cisco's
peril, data center administrators are more than willing to buy the best of many
vendors rather than standardize on one, because they control the "crown
jewels" of the enterprise, she said.

IDG News Service

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