Arista Delivers Industry’s First 10G Pass-Through Card for IBM BladeCenter

Menlo Park, California, April 7, 2009 – Arista Networks today announced a 10 Gigabit Ethernet Pass-Through Card for the IBM BladeCenter H, addressing bandwidth intensive applications while alleviating both capital and operational costs in the data center. As opposed to traditional blade switches, the Arista 10G Pass-Through Card enables a much simplified and ultra-low latency, truly non-blocking network design. Each server’s 10G NIC is “passed-through” to a rack-top switch without being switched or blocked and without requiring any network management at the IBM BladeCenter chassis level. The non-blocking performance improves server utilization and consequently data center power efficiency while at the same time improving network stability and reducing operational costs.

“Arista’s 10G Pass-Through Card is simpler, faster, and more cost-effective than traditional blade switches” said Andy Bechtolsheim, Chief Development Officer of Arista. "They are ideal for high-performance blade server applications including virtualization, network storage and video streaming”

Designed for simplicity and reliability, the Arista 10G Pass-Through Card does not require any software or configuration. The card is accessible by the BladeCenter Management Module for control and status. Cable management is simplified with QSFP cables that allow the full network bandwidth from all fourteen 10G server blades to be passed to the network with just four cables.

“As a fellow member of Blade.org, Arista shares in IBM’s goals to continuously listen to customers and support the development of innovative blade solutions,” said Doug Balog, Vice President, IBM Modular Development and Chairman, Blade.Org. “The Arista 10G Pass-Through Card for BladeCenter H is an example of this innovation in practice - providing a unique networking solution for customers who need non-blocking performance and a lower total cost of ownership.”

A typical 42 RU rack can accommodate up to three IBM BladeCenter H chassis which means that up to 42 blade servers can be connected via 10G Pass-Through Cards to a single 48-port Arista 7148SX series switch acting as a top-of-rack aggregator. This represents a 3-fold reduction in the number of switches to be managed versus a traditional blade switch implementation.

“A 10G pass-through implementation establishes a clear demarcation point between the blade server and the network." added Jur Faber, CEO of Consolidate-IT, Arista’s pan-European Distributor. “We anticipate many 10G deployments across Europe with this new 10G Pass-Through Card for IBM environments as customers continue to look for ways to lower their total cost of ownership.”

The Arista 10G Pass-Through Card for IBM BladeCenter is currently in field trials. Production units will be available this quarter and can be ordered now. Pricing and ordering information can be found at:: https://www.arista.com/en/ordering

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, formerly known as Arastra, was founded to deliver cloud networking solutions for large datacenter and computing environments. Arista offers best-of-breed 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches that redefine scalability, robustness, and price-performance. At the core of Arista's platform is the Extensible Operating System (EOS™), a pioneering new software architecture with self-healing and live in-service software upgrade capabilities.

Arista's team is comprised of experienced management and engineering talent from leading networking companies. Arista markets its products worldwide through distribution partners, systems integrators and resellers with a strong dedication to partner and customer success.

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For more information, please visit https://www.arista.com or contact Arista at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 650-462-5000.