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Gigamon Introduces New Data Access Switch For High-Density Uses: Page 2 of 2

The "HD" in the product name stands for high density, and the "8" refers to the number of blades, or line cards, in the appliance. The appliance is a large, 14-rack system that can replace multiple 1U, 2U or 3U appliances that have to be wired together to provide the same capacity, he says. Merging multiple appliances into one unit saves space, energy and cooling costs, and reduces the number of transceivers needed to move data between disparate appliances.

Line cards can also be customized to have a number of different combinations of 1G or 10G ports, depending on network need. The GigaVUE-HD8 features a backplane capable of handling 1.024TB of data at once, a rate that is 25 times better than Gigamon's nearest competitor, says company spokesman Jim Berkman.

Such high-density appliances are in demand in the telecommunications space where wireless service providers are rolling out faster 4G and LTE networks, in financial services that demand high-availability, and low-latency networks or in government IT networks that need security from hacking and have to protect data under various privacy regulations, according to the company.

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