Alcatel-Lucent is delivering a new family of Gigabit Ethernet switches that fit into its architecture for blending data, voice and wireless connectivity and are designed for small and midsize businesses.

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OmniSwitch 6400 comes in six models that can be stacked so a single logical switch supports a maximum of 384 ports. Individual chassis support 24 and 48 ports, and can support either unpowered, Power over Ethernet or fiber ports. (Compare access switches.)

The switches support routing information protocol (RIP) and intermediate system to intermediate system (IS-IS) and could be used in branch offices as the local switch, Alcatel-Lucent says.

The switches support high availability so if one control module on a stacked array fails, a secondary control module takes over with no loss of data or network connectivity. If the backup module fails the switches continue to function based on their existing address and route tables.

Click to see: Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniSwitch 6400 family of Layer 2+ Gigabit Ethernet switches support anti-denial of service, 802.1X, anomaly detection and quarantining.

Security on the switches includes denial-of-service protection and 802.1X port authentication as well as Access Guardian, an Alcatel-Lucent feature that enables setting access rights for groups of user. The switches can work in conjunction with a separate Alcatel-Lucent application called Quarantine Manager that can reset the virtual LAN assignment for a port generating suspicious traffic to quarantine the device from the rest of the network.

The switches can be managed individually via browser-based element management or under Alcatel-Lucent's OmniVista management platform. They can also be managed by the company's Service Aware Manager for carriers that use the devices as customer premises equipment.

The company claims the switches consume 40% to 50% less power than comparable Cisco 2960 and 3560 switches.

Prices for the OmniSwitch 6400 series switches range from $2,000 to $5,200.