Brocade Intros NetIron CER

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Brocade® (Nasdaq: BRCD) today announced the Brocade NetIron® CER 2000 Series compact multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) router, featuring industry-leading hardware-based routing capacity, in a compact 1U form factor: 24 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports with two 10 GbE uplinks. Unmatched in its combination of throughput, compact size, and efficiency, the NetIron CER 2000 enables service providers to more broadly, rapidly, and cost-effectively deploy high-margin business virtual private network (VPN) and IP voice, video, and data services while helping to reduce their cost per megabit.

The new NetIron CER 2000 addresses the needs of service providers that are facing increased edge and aggregation routing demands and are nearing the “revenue footprint” and performance limitations of their current networking infrastructures. Combining industry-leading forwarding capacity with strong price/performance value, the NetIron CER 2000 helps service providers increase revenue footprint, maximizing the number and types of advanced services that can be deployed in a given area. It does so by helping to significantly decrease both capital and ongoing maintenance costs while also helping to generate new revenue from value-added service offerings.

The NetIron CER 2000 enables service providers to offer wire-speed Carrier Ethernet services—such as E-LINE, E-LAN, and E-TREE services—with its multicast and Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities to support triple-play applications. It features scalable MPLS with VLL, VPLS, VPLS-PBB, and advanced resiliency at multiple layers using MPLS Fast Reroute, hot-standby LSPs, and fault detection and recovery with Brocade Metro Ring Protocol (MRP)/MRP2. In particular, the NetIron CER 2000 can benefit service providers and data centers by:

• Doubling the routing capacity and tripling the forwarding performance of competitive solutions in the smallest possible space
• Providing the fastest route to advanced business and MPLS services based on the same OS -- Brocade Multi-Service IronWare® -- that powers the high-end NetIron MLX and NetIron XMR chassis-based routers
• Offering vertical consolidation with at least 33 percent space compression when compared to chassis-based products
• Improving operational efficiency with 66 percent power consumption savings and front-to-back airflow for more efficient space and power usage

“As we reported in August, we think that in spite of the downturn, and in part because of it, uptake of IP MPLS VPN and Ethernet services is growing at a healthy pace as companies seek to increase efficiencies and decrease costs,” said Michael Howard, co-founder and principal analyst of Infonetics Research. “Organizations are looking to control WAN costs despite rising bandwidth needs and are turning to Ethernet and managed Layer 2 and Layer 3 services, where service providers can help stabilize costs, prioritize critical applications, and increase capacities. The Brocade NetIron CER family helps fulfill a need in this environment, with MPLS-based services support, good port density in a small form factor, and low cost.”

The platform is optimal for use as a Carrier Ethernet/Metro edge router, an MPLS Provider Edge (PE) router, or as a high-capacity border router for small data centers and enterprise branch offices with Ethernet connectivity. Additionally, the NetIron CER 2000 features a highly scalable BGP implementation for compact route-reflector applications to help reduce complexity and cost for service providers.

With MEF 9, 14, and 21 certification, NEBS Level 3 certification; hot-swappable, redundant, load sharing AC/DC power supplies; a N+1 redundant, replaceable cooling system; and front-to-back airflow, the NetIron CER 2000 extends the Brocade NetIron router family and further demonstrates carrier-class availability.

“Bandwidth needs, applications, and user numbers are increasing, while provider budgets are flattening or declining,” said Marc Randall, senior vice president of products and solutions at Brocade. “A high-density, MPLS-enabled compact router, such as the Brocade NetIron CER 2000, is an often-requested addition to our product line that meets a clear market need.”

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD)