Force10 Adds MPLS to ExaScale E-Series Switch/Router

Force10 Networks has added MPLS functionality to its ExaScale E-Series core switch/routers.



Force10 said its ExaScale platform combines high-density, non-blocking, line-rate 10 GbE switching and routing with robust MPLS LSR support at 1/5th of the cost of a traditional core router, enabling carriers to fully capitalize on the economic advantages of Ethernet. In addition to capital cost savings, the ExaScale platform's patent-protected hardware and software innovations provide significant space- and power-related savings while also ensuring high availability.


"Customers tell us video and web content alone currently accounts for more than 50% of total Internet traffic, and that percentage continues to increase," says Steve Garrison, vice president of marketing, Force10 Networks. "This rapid growth associated with traffic not directly tied to revenues is driving carriers to look for alternatives to traditional general purpose core routers for expanding capacity more cost effectively."


The Force10 E-Series delivers an Internet-scale BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) routing implementation. It utilizes a distributed forwarding architecture incorporating three CPUs and leverages distributed control plane processing to deliver hitless failover as well as graceful and deterministic failure recovery. All system components are hot swappable and 1+1 control plane redundancy is supported. The ExaScale E-Series boasts 125 Gbps of useable data capacity per slot. It supports 140 line-rate 10 GbE SFP+ ports in a half-rack chassis.
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