Extreme Networks has announced that its Summit X450a family of Ethernet networking switches have been tested and found compatible with the Dell (News - Alert) EqualLogic Storage Area Network (SAN) internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) appliance product line from Dell, and the two sets of solutions together are available for sale and provide a high performance, cost optimized storage solution to meet the current and future data center challenges.

"Customers are converging storage onto Ethernet technology to drive lower costs, boost simplicity and performance," said Paul Hooper, Vice President and General Manager for the Volume Products Group at Extreme Networks (News - Alert). "By testing our products with Dell to ensure compatibility, we are able to bring to our customers a high performance, easy to manage and operate solution at very compelling price points compared to traditional SAN solutions."

Official sources from the company claim that the Summit X450a switches provide data center clientele with Ethernet switching solutions that combine lower operational expenditure, network management, and simpler and faster deployment.

"iSCSI is the established Ethernet-based converged SAN technology. The primary market drivers are the ability of current generation iSCSI products to meet the needs of data center customers from a performance, cost and management standpoint by leveraging standard Ethernet network infrastructure," said Steven J. Schuchart Jr. (News - Alert), Principal Analyst for Data Centers at Current Analysis. "The offering from Dell and Extreme Networks creates a compelling solution in the converged all Ethernet storage marketplace.”

The company says the switch series have multiple functions that provide high density one Gigabit (Gb) and optional 10 Gb Ethernet ports in a standard vertical slotting height of 1 Rack Unit (RU) of 1.75 inches or 44.45 mm form factor, and each port can simultaneously support a full range of Layer 2 to Layer 4 requirements to guarantee multiplexed, enhanced performance.

The heightened combination of switching capacity and per slot bandwidth should easily match of the demand for a potpourri of interlinked internet, broadband, and Wi-B technologies that has gone beyond the exponential because consumers, service providers and companies want simultaneous high definition video streaming, Unified Communications (News - Alert), Web 2.0 social networks, Infrastructural virtualization, web based Software as a Solution applications, Network Operations Center offloading, remote backup and super quick environments for cloud computing.