BLADE's new switch provides the ability to use six 1-Gigabit copper and three 10-Gigabit SFP+ fiber uplinks concurrently - for 50 percent more bandwidth than alternative blade switch offerings. BLADE’s new switch applies the principles of ''Rackonomics'' to ''scale out'' and virtualize data center networks, driving down the total cost of ownership associated with high-performance clusters and virtualized data centers that require an affordable migration path to 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

The BLADE 1/10Gb switch features:

• Power consumption that is 33 to 50 percent lower than alternative blade switches
• Layer 2/3 support for advanced features such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) built-in at no additional cost, and
• Extensive network virtualization capabilities such as VMReady.

The BLADE switch is priced up to 50 percent less than alternative blade switches.

The BLADE 1/10Gb switch with Nortel/BNT Extensions to IBM BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager I/O virtualization software enables multiple embedded blade server switches to operate as one large virtual switch using stacking. Stacking allows switches to be easily combined into one logical unit. In addition, customers can exploit the advantages of automated fail over or moves without the need for manual address re-assignment- reducing the coordination normally required between server and network administrators.

Vikram Mehta, President and CEO of BLADE Network Technologies remarked, ''Bringing 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to IBM BladeCenter simplifies the network and reduces cost-of-ownership, while improving overall system performance. Our Rackonomics approach means giving customers the option to affordably and easily implement both Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet as they scale out and virtualize their data center networks. We are pleased that IBM chose BLADE to provide IBM BladeCenter clients with active 1/10 Gigabit functionality.''

The BLADE switch helps customers build a unified LAN and Ethernet-based storage fabric (iSCSI or NAS), while also providing extreme flexibility with a combination of 1Gb and 10Gb ports as applications require. Advantages of using BLADE's Nortel 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module on IBM BladeCenter include:

• Lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for networks transitioning from 1 Gigabit to 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
• Enterprise-class Layer 3 features standard - Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and others.
• More power efficient green design.
• Reduced network complexity, cable management and troubleshooting.
• Best way to equip blade servers for increased I/O for network virtualization.
• Ideal for applications requiring high uplink bandwidth such as IPTV, video surveillance, IP SAN storage, high-performance computing, remote backup, and disaster recovery.
• IPv6 capable.

BLADE's Nortel 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module delivers 104 Gbps full-duplex throughput to the IBM BladeCenter enclosure.

BLADE's Nortel 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module is available from IBM now, priced starting at $4,999. Stacking will be supported for IBM BladeCenter in the fourth quarter.

BLADE Network Technologies is the leading supplier of Gigabit and 10G Ethernet network infrastructure solutions that reside in blade servers and 'scale-out' server and storage racks. BLADE's new 'virtual, cooler and easier' top-of-rack switches demonstrate the promise of ''Rackonomics'' - a revolutionary approach for scaling out data center networks to drive down total cost of ownership. The company's customers include half of the Fortune 500 across 26 industry segments, and an installed base of over 170,000 network switches representing more than 4 million switch ports.

To learn more about the IBM solution, please visit: www.ibm.com/bladecenter or www.bladenetwork.net/ibm.

For more information about BLADE, please visit: www.bladenetwork.net.