Flexible, High Bandwidth Gigabit Ethernet Switch From GE Supports Failsafe Operation

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA May 13 2010 GE Intelligent Platforms today announced the NETernity™ CP921RC-30x 6U CompactPCI® 24-port Gigabit Ethernet switch. Designed for challenging applications in telecommunications, industrial and military systems, it is a fully managed Layer 2/3+ switch with support for ‘future-proof’ IPv6 switching and routing.

Important new functionality is included in the form of Failover Groups (FOG), a feature that is part of GE’s OpenWare™ switch management environment. Responding to the need for very high availability networks, FOG is designed to support redundancy at different levels – redundant links across backplanes from nodes to switches, redundant switches, and redundant links to external networks. This provides fast, application-independent, failover capabilities, suitable for a wide range of network configurations, from the simple to the very complex. This unique combination of innovative hardware and software technologies delivers leading edge functionality, flexibility and availability.

“As network traffic and dependency on the network increases, there is also an increased need for Ethernet switches that are high performance, high bandwidth and that offer the functionality necessary to deliver outstanding network uptime,” said Richard Spiesman, Product Manager at GE Intelligent Platforms. “This new addition to our extensive NETernity family of switches rises to the challenge and provides a sustainable competitive advantage for customers.”

The CP921RC-30x is optionally available with two front panel 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports and two Gigabit Ethernet ports capable of supporting SFP+ and SFP transceivers (which can be copper or fiber) respectively for greater configuration flexibility. These ports are invaluable for very high external bandwidth traffic aggregation environments.

The OpenWare software environment, designed specifically for the NETernity range of switches, provides a substantially improved user experience for application development and support. Additional functionality or customization can be simply incorporated within OpenWare according to customer requirements. The OpenWare switch management environment provides a full and robust set of configuration and management functions including VLANs, Quality of Service, Link Aggregation, SNMP, MSTP, Multicast and so on: these can be implemented via a serial console, Telnet or the Web.

PICMG 2.16- and RoHS compliant, the CP921RC-30x Ethernet switch supports high-availability hot swap as well as IPMI v1.5 to further improve availability, maintainability and manageability. As well as supporting Layer-2/3+ switching, it can support Layer 4-7 switching when required. A variety of rear transition boards is available to provide rear I/O configuration flexibility beyond the flexibility delivered by the CP921RC’s optional front panel ports. The CP921RC-30x is also available in an extended temperature variant for demanding industrial applications.

More information at: www.ge-ip.com/products/family/ethernet-switches

About GE Intelligent Platforms

GE Intelligent Platforms is an experienced high-performance technology company and a global provider of software, hardware, services, and expertise in automation and embedded computing. We offer a unique foundation of agile and reliable technology providing customers a sustainable competitive advantage in the industries they serve, including energy, water, consumer packaged goods, government & defense, and telecommunications. GE Intelligent Platforms is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA. For more information, visit www.ge-ip.com.