On April 11, 2017 Cisco announced the availability of a 48-port 32Gb/s switching module for their MDS 9700 enterprise director series.
Why is this important to Dell Connectrix customers? Dell resells and services Cisco MDS products under the Dell Connectirx brand. Many of our largest storage customers choose Connectrix MDS for their storage networking needs. If you are a Connectrix MDS 9700 customer, you will be able to upgrade to 32Gb/s Fibre Channel while preserving your current investment.
Since Cisco entered the storage networking business in 2003, their philosophy has been to design for the long term to sustain their customer’s investments as Fibre Channel (FC) speed bumps occur. The MDS 9500 series for example, supported 4- and 8Gb/s FC. With this philosophy, there’s no need for full chassis or “fork-lift” upgrades.
Dell expects to release the new Connectrix MDS switch module in calendar year quarter three, 2017. Stay tuned for more details about new features and functionality coming soon.
Cisco MDS 48-port 32Gb/s Switching Module for the MDS 9700 Series