Data Center Networking Equipment and Solutions

TrustRadius Top Rated for 2023

Top Rated Products

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1
Cisco Nexus Series Switches

Cisco Nexus is a series of network switches.

2
Cisco Nexus Dashboard

Cisco Nexus Dashboard provides a simplified, centralized data center dashboard that enables businesses to manage their hybrid cloud network operations.

All Products

(1-25 of 50)

1
Cisco Nexus Series Switches

Cisco Nexus is a series of network switches.

2
Cisco Nexus Dashboard

Cisco Nexus Dashboard provides a simplified, centralized data center dashboard that enables businesses to manage their hybrid cloud network operations.

3
Dell PowerConnect Switches

Dell PowerConnect is a series of networking switches.

4
Cisco Optical Networking

Cisco Optical Networking is a suite of products supporting data center networking, including the NCS 1000, 2000, 4000, 4200, and the Cisco Evolved Programmable Network Manager (Cisco EPN Manager), as well as Cisco ONS 15000 series platforms and devices.

5
Cradlepoint Routers

Cradlepoint in Boise offers a range of routers supporting cellular or wireless failover, branch and IoT networks, and related needs, available through a variety of appliances, and via the Cradlepoint virtual edition router.

6
HPE FlexFabric

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) offers the FlexFabric product line of data center networking equipment.

7
Brocade VDX (discontinued)

The Extreme VDX series of switches (formerly Brocade VDX) was acquired by Extreme Networks in 2017 during the Broadcom acquisition of Brocade and the selling off of some of the company's assets. The products, including the latest ExtremeSwitching VDX 6740, are now discontinued.

8
Lumen Ethernet

Lumen Ethernet services (formerly CenturyLink Ethernet services) power secure, high-availability network solutions that enable high-performance voice, video and data applications. Lumen Ethernet’s private connectivity, scalable bandwidth and configuration options make it ideal for…

9
Cisco NCS Optical Series

The vendor states users can improve a network’s flexibility and cut costs with the Cisco NCS Optical Series. With its Circuit Emulation technology, the NCS Optical Series offers any-to-any connectivity, along with savings over traditional TDM transport architectures. Network operators…

10
Dell PowerSwitch S Series

Based on the former Force10 switches, the Dell PowerSwitch S Series are a varied series of data center switches.

11
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch

Alcatel-Lucent provides the OmniSwitch family of switches, providing data center switching, Ethernet & LAN switches, support for IoT and edge solutions, SDN, ruggedization and industrial-grade solutions, and WebSmart switches.

12
Arista 7000 series

The Arista 7000 series is a line of networking switches, from Arista in Santa Clara, California.

13
Huawei CloudEngine Data Center Switches

The Huawei NetEngine series of DC switches is, the vendor states, a diversified product portfolio that supports flexible networking ranging from 500 to over 50,000 servers, with a unified open architecture that supports seamless evolution from the traditional data center network…

14
Larch Networks Data Center Switches

Larch Networks designs and provides full set of devices for the datacenter: 10-Gigabit based devices for a small corporate Data Center TOR switches with 10/25Gbps downlinks and 100Gbps uplinksLEAF/SPINE switches with 400Gbit cross-links and 12.8Tbps total performance EBOF high-performance…

15
Nodegrid Data Center Appliances

Nodegrid data center appliances & software free users from manual, on-site work. Remote out-of-band access lets the user control critical systems from anywhere, while automation and centralized management bring push-button simplicity to an entire operation.

16
Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS)

Nokia states the 1830 PSS platforms let users deploy services rapidly, reduce network TCO, and extend network lifecycles. They transform traditional DWDM into a flexible transport layer with capabilities such as 100G–600G transport wavelengths, agile wavelength routing, and scalable…

17
Infinera Cloud Xpress

Optimized for density, efficiency, and ease of deployment, Infinera states the Cloud Xpress is designed to meet the varying needs of cloud service providers, internet content providers, internet exchange service providers, enterprises, and other large-scale data center operators.

18
Broadcom PCI Express Switches (PEX 8700 series)

Broadcom offers their PCIe (PCI Express) Switches, the PEX 8700 series, which they present as very high performance, low latency, low power, multi-purpose, highly flexible and highly configurable. They are part of a PCI-Express (PCIe) Gen 4.0 Fabric Reference Design Kit (RDK) co-…

19
Infinera mTera Universal Transport Platform

The Infinera mTera Universal Transport Platform is described by the vendor as an extremely flexible and efficient network transport solution supporting scalable grooming and an innovative protocol-agnostic switch fabric in which each and every port on virtually every card can be…

20
Infinera XTM & XTC, of the DTN-X Family

The Infinera DTN-X Family is a family of next-generation multi-terabit transport network platforms, comprising the DTN-X XTC Series, the DTN-X XT Series and the DTN-X XTS Series. The XTM and XTC are packet optical transports.

21
Infinera GX Series

Boasting a flexible sled-based design, low power consumption, and high density, the Infinera Groove (GX) Series (formerly Coriant Groove) offers optical performance of up to 800G per wavelength along with automation. The platform aims to provide a powerful, compact, and flexible…

22
Ciena 5400 Family

The Ciena 5400 Family is optimized for cost-effective, next-generation bandwidth management, enabling aggregation, grooming, and forwarding of multiple traffic types. Both the 5410 and 5430 systems employ Ciena’s intelligent control plane—shared with the 6500 Family—to automate labor-…

23
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rackswitches

Lenovo ThinkSystem Rackswitches support SMB and larger enterprises with data center networking.

24
CenturyLink Wavelength Services

CenturyLink® Wavelength service delivers dedicated bandwidth and the full network transparency your enterprise requires. Available in 1 GigE, 10 GigE or 100 GigE speeds — protected and unprotected — CenturyLink Wavelength service is the ideal choice for network backbones between…

25
Synopsys DesignWare IP

The DesignWare IP portfolio, from Synopsys includes logic libraries, embedded memories, analog IP, wired and wireless interface IP, security IP, embedded processors and subsystems.

Learn More About Data Center Networking Equipment and Solutions

What is Data Center Networking Equipment?

Data center networking solutions include devices that connect computing and storage resources, enabling the delivery of shared computer applications and data.

Network equipment is required for communication and interaction between hardware on a computer network. Networking equipment combines, splits, switches, boosts, or directs packets of information across a computer or telecommunications network.

Networking equipment supports different protocols to allow a variety of devices to communicate. Network protocols are a set of rules, conventions, and data structures that dictate how devices exchange data across networks. Protocols allow devices to understand the electronic signals they send and receive while communicating over network connections.

Data center networking equipment include:

NIC – Network interface card also known as a network adapter card, an Ethernet card, or a LAN (Local Area Network) card, allow networking devices to communicate with other networked devices.

Switches - Connect devices on a network to send and receive data. They use MAC (Media Access Control) addresses (unique identifiers) to send data packets to destination ports.

Routers – Connect different networks and receive, analyze, and forward data packets. They connect different network segments, different network protocols, connect smaller networks into a large network, break large networks into smaller ones, and connect different network architectures, and media types. Central routers are the high-speed backbone of a network with the ability to support many LANs. Routers can also be local, remote, internal, external, and peripheral. Router types include wireless, broadband, core, edge, and brouters (bridge routers).

Gateways – Nodes that connect networks, including those operating with different transmission protocols, act as a protocol converter providing compatibility between the different protocols. They forward data packets from a local network to a remote network. They can be unidirectional or bidirectional. Types of gateways include traditional network gateways, cloud storage gateways, email gateways, internet to orbit (satellite) gateways, IoT gateways, and VoIP gateways.

Multiplexers - Combine multiple signals into one output signal.

Repeaters – Amplify and retransmit signals to ensure signals are transmitted clearly throughout the network. They can be digital or analog, wired or wireless, local, or remote.

Firewalls – Safeguard a network against unauthorized access.

Transceivers – Connect nodes and send and receive both analog and digital signals. This functionality is built into network cards but is also available as a physical device. They can convert electrical signals to optical signals and vice versa.

Bridges –Break down larger networks into smaller segments, connect different media types, and network architectures.

Hubs - Connect multiple devices in a single LAN. Hubs can be passive, active (providing repeater functionality), or intelligent (supporting network management functions) and are primarily used in older networks.

Data Center Networking Solutions Features

Data center networking equipment includes these features:

  • Connect multiple computers in a network
  • Connect network devices to send and receive data
  • Connect different networks
  • Connect networks with different transmission protocols
  • Combine multiple signals into one output signal
  • Amplify and retransmit signals to ensure clear signal transmission throughout a network
  • Convert electrical signals to optical signals and vice versa
  • Safeguard networks against unauthorized access

Data Center Networking Equipment Comparison

Consider the following when purchasing data center networking equipment:

New vs. Refurbished Equipment: Budget-conscious businesses may wish to consider purchasing refurbished data center networking equipment, which offers reduced costs, warranties, and easy access to replacements.

Short Term vs. Long Term Goals: In addition to meeting your current requirements, evaluate where you expect your business to be over the next five to ten years. The products you select should have a clear upgrade path to enable longer-term goals.

Public Cloud-based Service Options: Depending on your goals and IT strategy, a move to the cloud could eliminate the need for any networking equipment.

Pricing Information

Pricing for data center networking equipment depends on the scale of resources. Switches start at a few hundred dollars and go over $10,000. Small business routers range from several hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. Enterprise routers can run over $50,000. Hardware firewalls for small businesses usually range from $1,500 to $4,000. Enterprise-level firewalls range from $25,000 to over $50,000. Free demos and trials are available.

Related Categories

Frequently Asked Questions

What does data center networking equipment do?

Data center networking equipment includes routers, switches, and firewalls that are used to securely communicate between devices on computer networks.

What are the benefits of using data center networking equipment?

Data center networking equipment connects computing and storage resources to enable the sharing of computer applications and data.

What is the best data center networking equipment?

These are some of the popular data center networking equipment vendors:

How much does data center networking equipment cost?

Depending on the size of your business and networks, prices for routers, switches, and firewalls can range from a few hundred dollars to over $50,000. Free demos and trials are available.