Enterasys launches Matrix N-Series enterprise switches to reach new levels of network productivity, security

Enterasys Networks Inc, a global provider of business-driven networks for enterprise customers, has introduced the Matrix N-Series, the next-generation of the company`s flagship switching line. The new Matrix N7 and Matrix N3 switches deliver breakthrough performance levels, a full suite of advanced features and a low entry cost, enabling enterprise customers to utilise their networks to increase productivity and efficiency while controlling operational costs.

Powered by the only fully distributed switching architecture in the industry, the Matrix N-Series offers extensive enterprise-wide management and a unique, high-availability design that delivers superior levels of scalability, performance and network availability. The N-Series offers customer benefits such as investment protection, low maintenance costs, maximum network uptime and simplified configuration.

"As enterprises deploy more advanced and mission-critical applications, it becomes imperative for them to build highly available networks. At the same time, the overall decline in IT staffing levels requires that these complex networks are easy to manage and administer. Switching platforms that are designed with a fully distributed switching architecture provide customers with maximum uptime while providing the scalability to meet the network performance and capacity needs of growing organisations," said Lawrence Orans, principal analyst at Gartner.

The Matrix N-Series fulfils Enterasys` vision of business-driven networks by providing customers the infrastructure to align business needs with networking capabilities, ensuring that the most critical applications receive the highest priority. Enterprise customers will use the Matrix N-Series to power business-critical applications such as CRM, ERP and others, as well as providing end-to-end network security, high-performance desktop computing and support for multimedia video broadcast and voice-over-IP applications. By coupling its distributed architecture with wire-speed switching, the Matrix N-Series sets a new standard for enterprise switches, one that avoids the costly control elements and monolithic structures inherent in most centralized switching solutions. The powerful N-Series switches can scale up to 1.68Tbps of aggregate switching capacity with no single points of failure.

"Enterasys new Matrix N-Series switches will provide pinpoint control of our network traffic, allowing us to not only increase the efficiency of our entire system, but to better manage and monitor our network while providing tighter security to protect our intellectual property and other IT-based resources," said Bob Hartland, director, IT Servers and Networking Services, Baylor University. "And, with the flexible architecture of the Matrix switching platform, we can deploy modules as we need them and easily scale up performance as we add more people to our network."

Complementing Enterasys` distributed architecture are its new next-generation Distributed Forwarding Engine (DFE) modules, offering customers a wide range of technology and connectivity options. Customers can equip their Matrix N-Series with up to 3 DFEs (for the Matrix N3) or up to 7 DFEs (for the Matrix N7), and performance and capacity scales as more DFEs are added. In addition, the next-generation DFE modules are compatible with Enterasys` existing Matrix E7 switching platform, providing investment protection and an easy migration path for current Enterasys Matrix customers.

"The Matrix N-Series represents a tremendous advance for Enterasys, and is the manifestation of our company`s significant R&D investment. The features and benefits of the N-Series switching line makes our vision of business-driven networks a reality," said Laura Howard, executive vice-president of marketing and product management at Enterasys Networks. "Our distributed architecture creates a high-capacity, fully future-proofed system that customers can rely on to drive their networks with the highest levels of performance, security and reliability."

DFEs leverage Enterasys` family of nTERATM ASICs to combine multilayer packet classification, switching/VLAN services, IP routing, security and management into a single module. The switches distributed ASIC architecture compounds processing power as port densities increase with multiple processors per chassis. This architecture provides a level of scalability and reliability that vastly outpaces competitors products, which are typically built around a central, common switch or routing processor.

"Enterasys` new Matrix N-Series switches will enable us to offer a wide range of advanced switching platforms and connectivity options to our enterprise customers, especially customers with critical security and network control requirements. And, because the new distributed forwarding engines work with Enterasys` existing Matrix E7 switching platform, this delivers even greater flexibility and a longer product lifecycle for the end user," said Richard Roux, executive vice-president of Info Systems, Inc, an Elite Partner in the Enterasys Networks Partner Program.

Info Systems is a technology infrastructure company that focuses on delivering solutions that drive the integration and convergence of voice, data and video across enterprise networks. Enterasys` DFEs allow network managers to provision bandwidth to ensure the delivery of high-priority applications. This is made possible through Enterasys` unique user-based multilayer (Layer 2-4) packet classification, which enables categorisation not just by traffic type, but also by the users role to the network. This capability is unique to Enterasys and is the hardware feature that enables the company`s User Personalised Network solution.

"The new N-Series switching platform gives Enterasys a powerful competitive differentiator in a highly competitive market," said Joel Conover, principal analyst at Current Analysis. "The N-Series architecture provides the scalable performance that customers require when building next-generation networks. The fine-grain, user-based control, decentralised forwarding architecture, and policy-based management features are key differentiators for Enterasys"