The Lenovo ThinkSystem NE1072T RackSwitch that uses 10GBASE-T and 40 Gb QSFP+ Ethernet technology is specifically designed for the data center. It is ideal for today's big data, cloud, and enterprise workload solutions. It is an enterprise class Layer 2 and Layer 3 full featured switch that delivers line-rate, high-bandwidth switching, filtering, and traffic queuing without delaying data. Large data center-grade buffers help keep traffic moving, while the hot-swap redundant power supplies and fans (along with numerous high-availability features) help provide high availability for business sensitive traffic.
The NE1072T RackSwitch has 48x 1/10 Gb Ethernet (RJ-45) fixed ports and 6x QSFP+ ports that support 40 GbE optical transceivers, active optical cables (AOCs), and direct attach copper (DAC) cables. The QSFP+ ports can also be split out into four 10 GbE ports by using QSFP+ to 4x SFP+ DAC or active optical breakout cables.
High performance
The 10 Gb/40 Gb NE1072T RackSwitch provides a combination of low latency, non-blocking line-rate switching, and ease of management with 1.44 Tbps throughput.
Lower power and better cooling
The front-to-rear or rear-to-front cooling design of the NE1072T RackSwitch reduces data center air conditioning costs by having airflow match the servers in the rack. In addition, variable speed fans help reduce power consumption.
Layer 3 functionality
The NE1072T RackSwitch includes Layer 3 functionality, which provides security and performance benefits, as inter-VLAN traffic stays within the switch. This switch also provides the full range of Layer 3 protocols from static routes for technologies, such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) for enterprise customers.
Converged fabric
The NE1072T RackSwitch supports Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) which helps enable customers to combine storage, messaging traffic, VoIP, video, and other data on a common data center lossless Ethernet infrastructure. As a result, customers can deploy a single server interface for multiple data types, which can simplify the deployment and management of server network connectivity while maintaining the high availability and robustness that is required for storage transactions.
Fault tolerance
The NE1072T RackSwitch offers redundant hot-swap hardware components, learns alternate routes automatically, and performs faster convergence if there is a link, switch, or power failure.
Seamless interoperability
RackSwitch switches perform seamlessly with other vendors' upstream switches.
Automated VM-aware network provisioning
The Lenovo CNOS Network Policy Agent, a ThinkAgile Network Orchestrator feature, gives increased visibility of the virtual infrastructure, including VM and virtual network information. It provides automated VM-aware provisioning by automatically configuring VLANs in the physical network based on the auto-discovered virtual network topology. The agent also performs ongoing dynamic updates to the physical network configuration in response to new VMs, updated VMs, and deleted VMs and virtual networks, eliminating errors with manual configuration.
Pro-active congestion monitoring
Telemetry enables continuous monitoring of networking devices to detect potential congestion problems, such as packets dropped by the switch when ports are being used close to their line rate or switch buffers are being temporarily overflown (for example, in case of microbursts).
Zero Touch Provisioning
Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) enables a switch to automatically provision itself using the resources available on the network, without manual intervention. ZTP automatically handles the process of upgrading the switch software image and installing configuration files.
Python scripting
Network administrators can create and execute local Python scripts on switches to make small programs that allow a switch to automatically provision itself, perform fault monitoring, upgrade the image files, or auto-generate configuration files. Administrators can also implement version control systems, automatically generate alerts, create custom logging tools, and automate the management of network devices.
REST API programming
The Lenovo REpresentational State Transfer (REST) Application Program Interface (API) enables network administrators to remotely configure and manage a Lenovo switch using REST and HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It also allows switch management integration into management applications, such as Lenovo xClarity.
