Datasheet

cameras,andwirelessaccesspoints.
Theswitchesarecompatiblewithindustry-
standardVoIPequipmentaswellaslegacy
IPphones.
TheseswitchessupporttheemergingPoE
Plus(PoE+)standard(802.3at)toprovide
upto30wattsofpowertoeachdevice.
Thishigh-poweredsolutionsimplieswiring
fornext-generationsolutionssuchasvideo
conferencingphones,pan/tiltsurveillance
cameras,and802.11nwirelessaccess
points.ThePoEcapabilityreducesthe
numberofpowerreceptaclesandpower
adapterswhileincreasingreliabilityand
wiringexibility.
The24-portBrocadeFCXPoEmodelcan
supplyfullClass3(15.4watts)orfullPoE+
(30watts)powertoeveryport,andthe48-
portmodelcansupplyfullClass3powerto
everyportorfullPoE+powerto26ports.
Theswitchescanpoweracombinationof
PoEandPoE+deviceswhilestayingwithin
theswitches’820-wattpowerbudget.
Plug-and-Play Operations
for Powered Devices
TheBrocadeFCXSeriessupportstheIEEE
802.1ABLinkLayerDiscoveryProtocol(LLDP)
andANSITIA1057LinkLayerDiscovery
Protocol-MediaEndpointDiscovery(LLDP-MED)
standardsthatenableorganizationstodeploy
interoperablemultivendorsolutionsforUnied
Communications(UC).
ConguringIPendpointssuchasVoIPphones
canbeacomplextaskrequiringmanualand
time-consumingconguration.LLDPand
LLDP-MEDaddressthischallenge,providing
astandard,openmethodforconguring,
discovering,andmanagingnetwork
infrastructure.TheLLDPprotocolshelpreduce
operationalcostsbysimplifyingandautomating
networkoperations.Forexample,LLDP-MED
providesanopenprotocolforconguring
QualityofService(QoS),securitypolicies,
VirtualLAN(VLAN)assignments,PoEpower
levels,andservicepriorities.
INCREASED FLEXIBILITY
AND SCALABILITY
TheBrocadeFCXSeriesprovidesa
widerangeofexibilityandscalability
advantagesfordynamicandgrowing
enterprisenetworks.
Simplied, High-Performance,
High-Availability Stacking
LeveragingBrocadeIronStacktechnology,
uptoeightBrocadeFCXSeriesswitches
canbestackedintoasinglelogicalswitch,
providingsimpleandrobustexpandability
forfuturegrowthatthenetworkedge.
ThisstackedswitchhasonlyasingleIP
addresstosimplifymanagement.When
newmembersareaddedtothestack,they
automaticallyinheritthestack’sexisting
congurationle,enablingtrueplug-and-
playnetworkexpansion.
Brocadestackingtechnologydelivershigh
availability,performingreal-timestate
synchronizationacrossthestackand
enablinginstantaneoushitlessfailoverto
astandbycontroller,ifthemasterstack
controllerfails.Inaddition,organizations
canusehot-insertion/removalofstack
memberstoavoidinterruptingservice.
BrocadeFCX-Sswitchmodelsoffertwo
dedicatedfull-duplex16Gbpsstacking
portsthatprovide64Gbpsofstacking
bandwidth,essentiallyeliminatingtheneed
toworkaroundinter-switchbottlenecks
(seeFigure1).Thesededicatedstacking
portsfreeupthe10GigabitEthernet
(GbE)portsforhigh-speedconnectivityto
theaggregationorcorelayers—providing
maximumexibilityinacompactaccess
switch.Additionally,allBrocadeFCXSeries
Figure 1. 
BrocadeFCXSeriesswitchescanbe
stackedintoasinglelogicalswitchand
thenredundantlyconnectedtothe
aggregationlayerusingaggregated
10GbEports.
Brocade FCX
Series Switches
Stacked in a
Logical Switch
Dual-Aggregated
10 GbE Ports
64 Gbps
Stacking
Performance
Aggregation
Layer
POWER OVER ETHERNET PLUS
In2003,PoEbecameastandardwiththe
approvalofIEEE802.3af,eliminatingthe
needtohaveseparateLANcablesfor
dataandelectricalcablesforpower.
Class3PoEswitchescandeliverupto
15.4wattsofpoweracrosseachport,
providingconvergedpoweranddatato
devicessuchasVoIPphones,surveillance
cameras,andwirelessaccesspoints.
While15.4wattsofpowerissufcient
formanydevices,PoE+isanemerging
standard(802.3at)thatleverages
modernCAT5ecablingtoprovide30
wattsofpowerperport—enabling
higher-powerednext-generationcampus
convergencedevicessuchaswireless
802.11naccesspoints,video
conferencingphones,andpan/tilt
surveillancecameras.Moreover,PoE+
isbackwardcompatiblewith802.3af
PoE,andBrocadeFCXSeriesswitches
canuseLLDPtonegotiateportsettings
dynamically.