Ethernet Switching Reference Guide

Defining needs
Enterprise Customers:
• Is reliability critical to your business?
• Do you plan to upgrade your existing Ethernet
network?
• Do you plan do migrate your network from ATM
or Token Ring to Ethernet?
• Do you plan to unify your communications onto
one network?
• What are your plans for deploying web hosting
services?
• Do you have mission-critical traffic requiring
prioritisation?
• What are your plans for deploying Quality of
Service?
• What are your plans for deploying Internet
telephony?
• What are your plans for deploying streaming
audio or video applications?
• What are your plans for deploying desktop-based
instruction?
• What are your plans for deploying 10 Gigabit
Ethernet?
• Do you plan to connect to an optical Ethernet
service provider?
• Does fibre scarcity prevent you from providing
high-speed data services to multiple sites?
Service Providers, Carriers and Property
Developers:
• Do you plan to upgrade your Metropolitan
network service to Ethernet?
• Do you want to connect your points of presence
via Ethernet?
• What are your plans for deploying 10 Gigabit
Ethernet?
• Do you require internal Ethernet Connectivity?
• What are your plans for offering Optical Ethernet
services?
• What are your plans for deploying an Internet
Data Centre?
• Is reliability critical to your customers?
• What are your plans for delivering Virtual Private
Network services?
• What are your plans for delivering Transparent
LAN services?
• What are your plans for offering streaming audio
or video services?
• What are your plans for offering Video On
Demand services?
• What are your plans for offering Internet
Telephony services?
• Do you want to be able to support hundreds of
multicasting groups?
• Is fibre scarcity a consideration for you in
deploying an Optical Ethernet Metro network?
Typical Applications
Enterprise Customers:
• Power-user desktop switching
• Enterprise core IP routing
• IP Multicasting
• Web hosting
• Metropolitan inter-site connectivity
Service Provider and Carriers:
• Metropolitan Ethernet Service
• Internet Data Centre
• Transparent LAN services
• Virtual Private Networking Services
• Disaster Recovery Services
• Service Provider internal networks
Key Points
High performance:
• 128 Gbps non-blocking switching fabric
• 96Mpps throughput
• Wire-speed L2 through L7 packet classification
• Wire-speed L2 through L7 forwarding for critical
data traffic
Resilience:
• "Five-nines" carrier-grade reliability –
no single point of failure
• Device-level redundancy – power supplies, fans,
switching fabrics, modules
• All components hot swappable
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Passport 8600 Series Routing Switches