Cisco ramps up borderless networks

Cisco plans a complete refresh of its fixed-switching portfolio tied to Borderless Networks, the company's new network architecture and services platform, reports CRN.

Collectively called Cisco Borderless Access, the offerings include two fixed-switching product series and the official introduction of three network services programmes for the channel.

Cisco has been touting Borderless Networks as a next generation of network infrastructure that accounts for virtual offices, mobile devices, collaboration tools, and the convergence of networking and storage in the data centre.

Networking vendor Ciena has formally closed the deal to acquire the optical networking and carrier Ethernet technology of Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks business for a total purchase price of approximately $774 million, states EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet.

The deal's closure marks the end of a nearly six-month process in which Ciena has been on the hunt for Nortel's assets as it assumes a new position in the carrier networking industry.

Nortel entered into bankruptcy in January 2009, and has spent much of the past year selling off its various divisions. Ciena first bid on the Nortel carrier assets in October, and formally won the auction for the business at the end of November.

Broadcom, a company that specialises in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, has unveiled a series of multi-layer Ethernet devices that enable faster connectivity between servers in the data centre, says TMCNet.

The latest release includes the BCM56840 series belonging to StrataXGS switch architecture that provides up to 64-ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) with the flexibility to also support 40GbE.

Company officials say they have designed the BCM56840 series using 40nm process technology to provide an unprecedented level of integration and converged Ethernet capabilities.