Force10 Flirts With Midrange

Force10 Networks will unveil a scaled-down version of its switch-router technology next week as part of an ongoing push to lure smaller firms onto 10-Gbit/s technology.

The vendor will take the wraps off its C-Series 300 device, a cheaper, stripped-down, version of its existing E-Series chassis-based switches. "One of the challenges that we had at Force10 is that we're so high-end. We haven't been able to convince the mass market to buy into our technology," says Steve Garrison, Force10's vice president of marketing. "A lot of our customers asked for a small chassis at a lower price range."

The E-Series offers a maximum of 1,260 Ethernet ports and 224 10-Gbit/s Ethernet ports per chassis, compared to 384 and 32 ports, respectively, on the C-300. Pricing for the E-Series starts at $100,000, compared to $20,000 for the C-300, which is available now.

The ports on C-300 are also line-rate, according to Force 10. This means that data packets will not be dropped, even when the 14U, 8-slot system is running at full speed.

Force is firing a shot across the bows of Cisco with the launch of the C-300, and is putting the device up against the networking giant's Catalyst 4500 family.The Catalyst 4500 offers a maximum of 384 Ethernet ports and 2 ports of 10-Gbit/s Ethernet. Cisco does not publish pricing details, although a quick Internet search shows that resellers typically sell the 4500 chassis for around $7,000.

Recent weeks have seen growing momentum behind 10-Gbit/s Ethernet, with a slew of vendor announcements indicating that enterprises are considering the technology as a viable option for their data centers. (See 10-Gig Trends Up, InfiniBand Vendors Embrace 10-GigE, 10-Gig iSCSI SANs Set for Takeoff, and Brocade Busts Out 10-Gbit/s Plans.)

Force10 lists online dating site eHarmony as one of its first customers for the C-300, explaining that the switch is being used for the firm's back-office applications. (See Storage Love at eHarmony.)

Another early adopter, the University of Tennessee, is using a C-300 to support its high energy physics research, according to John Lankford, the University's senior infrastructure architect. "Basically, what we're using it for is as a low-cost aggregation device for our [server] cluster," he says, explaining that this will grow to around 200 nodes within the next year.

The exec added that 10 Gbit/s is crucial to this effort. "We're going to be a tier 2 site for the CERN particle physics lab in Geneva, and you have to have a multiple Gigabit requirement for that," he says.As part of this effort, the University will use the C-300's Ethernet ports to aggregate data from its server cluster. This data will then be sent on to CERN, via the Fermi National Lab in Illinois, via a 10-Gbit/s Ethernet link.

Although most users are hell-bent on persuading vendors to add new features to their hardware, Lankford is urging Force10 to leave the C-300 alone. "If they start adding too many features to it, it will drive the cost of the boxes up," he says, adding that an E-Series size device would be "overkill" for his server cluster.

Force10 has other more immediate challenges. There has been growing speculation about the vendor's long-term strategy in recent months, prompted by a series of massive funding rounds earlier this year. (See Force10 Round Hits $113M and Force10 Takes $51 Million.) The cash influx, which brought Force10's funding to north of $400 million, once again cast a spotlight on the vendor's IPO plans. (See Force10 Orders One More Round and Force10: Where's the Exit? .)

Its initial plans for a public offering were stalled by Sarbanes-Oxley compliance back in 2005; it's unclear now when the firm might go public. (See Force10 IPO Still Hanging.) "We're still working on it," was the vague response from Force10's Garrison when asked about by the IPO by Byte and Switch earlier today, and he refused to provide a specific date for Force10's S-1.

The exec was slightly more expansive on the subject of Force10's funding windfall, denying the suggestion that the vendor had been running out of money. "That's basically just giving us the comfort factor. People like to see your balance sheet and like to see that you have got cash in the bank," he says, adding that Force10 now has 400 customers worldwide.James Rogers, Senior Editor Byte and Switch