HP StorageWorks 8/24 SAN Switch AM868A 492292-001

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The new HP StorageWorks 8/24 SAN Switch delivers affordable and flexible 8 Gb/s connectivity and can be incorporated into an extensive core fabric or placed as an edge switch for SAN environments. The 8/24 SAN Switch is ideal for entry and SMB customers requiring a simple, yet flexible networked storage connectivity solution that will meet evolving requirements. The 8/24 SAN Switch provides the needed connectivity and flexibility at a price point that is affordable, while delivering industry-leading performance for long-term investment protection. It is a solution that is easy to deploy and requires little management time, reducing operational costs.

The 8/24 Base SAN Switch delivers sixteen high performance auto Sensing 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gb/s Fibre Channel ports. With powerful yet flexible capabilities-such as Ports On Demand scalability to 24 ports in an 8-port increment-the 8/24 SAN Switch enables organizations to start small and grow their storage networks in a non-disruptive manner. A fully populated 8/24 SAN Switch with 24 enabled ports provides 384 Gb switching (8 Gb full duplex) capacity for un-congested sustained, 8 Gb full duplex throughput. In addition, organizations can choose to initially deploy 4 Gbit/sec SFPs and upgrade to 8 Gbit/sec SFP+ at a later date when necessary.

The 8/24 SAN Switch with 24 enabled ports may be deployed as a full-fabric switch or in Access Gateway mode, which provides connectivity into any SAN (the default mode setting is a switch). Access Gateway mode utilizes N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) switch standards to present Fibre Channel connections as logical devices to SAN fabrics. Attaching through NPIV-enabled switches and directors, the 8/24 SAN Switch with 24 enabled ports in Access Gateway mode can connect to Brocade, McDATA, Cisco, or other SAN fabrics. Key benefits of Access Gateway mode include:

• Improved scalability for large or rapidly growing server and virtual server environments
• Simplified management through the reduction of domains and management tasks
• Fabric interoperability for mixed-vendor SAN configurations that require full functionality

An optional enhanced Power Pack+ software bundle can be purchased separately and includes Adaptive Networking, Fabric Watch, ISL Trunking, Extended Fabric, Advanced Performance Monitor, and Server Application Optimization. The software bundle provides the SAN administrator with the necessary tools to proactively monitor the health and performance thresholds of the network, while also ensuring the highest levels of security, scalability and manageability. Enhanced capabilities are based on the new Adaptive Networking software, a suite of tools for optimizing fabric behavior and ensuring ample bandwidth for mission-critical applications. Power Pack+ software enables infrastructure management through a single-pane-of-glass.

Key Features and Benefits

• 8Gb/s full duplex performance to enable up to 384 Gbit/s of uncongested throughput
• Optional enhanced ISL Trunking combines up to eight ISLs between a pair of switches into a single, logical high-speed trunk capable of up to 64 Gbit/s of throughput
• The only SAN solutions providing the complete HP SAN Switch functionality from Embedded to Enterprise. The HP B-series line of products allows the capability to apply the complete SAN Switch functionality to an affordable entry level SAN deployment and then to grow that deployment to the largest SAN fabric solutions supported by HP.
• Enables storage consolidation, simplified management of data center SAN environment
• Multi-vendor server and storage environment
• Widest range of HP SAN solutions
• Backward compatible with previously installed 1Gb, 2Gb, 4Gb, and 8Gb SAN Switches
• Interoperability with more than 3 Million HP SAN Switch installed base
• Mission critical SAN Services SAN-ES