Datasheet

I
NTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE INFRASTRUCTURE
Enterprise network infrastructure is evolving dramatically, from the core to
t
he edge of the network, with greater demands being placed on the entire
network system to deliver:
> H
ighly intelligent, non-stop transport of data and access to information
r
esources
> Guaranteed quality of service (QoS) for mission critical business
applications, including Voice over IP (VoIP), storage and video
> Comprehensive security for network access control, encryption and
protection of corporate resources
> Unprecedented levels of management visibility and granular control
> An open, standards-based architecture to enable seamless growth and
future investment without proprietary lock-ins
The 3Com Switch 8800 has been designed to stand up to these challenges for
the most demanding enterprise en
vironments. The Switch 8800 delivers a
comprehensive infrastructure solution that is highly resilient, intelligent,
secure and scalable—one that is capable of adapting to the evolving needs
of the enterprise.
RESILIENT ARCHITECTURE FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY
With a highly resilient modular architecture, the Switch 8800 Family
enhances business continuity by helping ensure availability of convergent
enterprise applications including data, voice and video. All critical
system components including power supplies, cooling fans and switch
fabrics are redundant and hot-swappable, minimizing any impact to the
enterprise in the event a single component should fail.
All Switch 8800 chassis models support the option for dual switch fabrics
providing high resiliency and rapid failover—less than one second—to
deliver the highest possible availability of network resources. With dual
switch fabrics installed, both fabrics are active and load-sharing, ensuring
resiliency as well as doubling effective system performance.
Changes in network topology due to device or link failures can lead to
disruption of service for critical business applications. Rapid recovery
from such topology changes is achieved with features such as Multiple
Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP), Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP),
Open Shortest Path Fir
st (OSPF) r
outing and Virtual Router Redundancy
Protocol (VRRP).
APPLICATION CONVERGENCE: QOS AND POWER OVER ETHERNET
Real-time applications such as voice over IP (VoIP) demand high Quality
of Service (QoS) and diff
erentiated service levels to function properly.
The 3Com Switch 8800 Family provides robust QoS and advanced traffic
management features, allowing critical applications to be prioritized and
serviced as the needs of the organization dictate.
Ad
ditionally
, the Switch 8800 su
pports industry-standar
d IEEE 802.3af
P
ower over Ethernet (PoE) to provide both electrical power and network
connectivity to PoE-capable devices, such as IP telephones and wireless
access points
, making the s
witches ideal for large-scale enterprise edge
deployment. PoE simplifies network deployment by eliminating the
need f
or separate data and po
w
er infrastructures, significantly reducing
installation and maintenance costs
. P
oE also pr
o
vides g
r
eater fle
xibility
for moves, adds and changes on the network, as powered network
devices can be deployed or relocated anywhere an Ethernet connection
is a
v
aila
ble without r
equiring a dedicated po
wer outlet.
3COM® SWITCH 8800 FAMILY
2
KEY BENEFITS