The 3rd Generation Brocade Fibre Channel switches (4 Gbps) were released in the mid-2000s, delivering improved performance, port density, and advanced fabric services. Let’s break them down with their ASIC details:
- Brocade Switch 4100 (2004)
- Speed: 4 Gbps FC
- Ports: 16, 24, or 32 ports
- ASIC: Brocade Condor ASIC — enabled higher throughput, dynamic port mapping, and hardware-based routing.
- Brocade Switch 4900 (2005)
- Speed: 4 Gbps FC
- Ports: 32 or 64 ports
- ASIC: Brocade Condor ASIC — added support for larger SAN fabrics and trunking.
- Brocade Switch 5000 (2005)
- Speed: 4 Gbps FC
- Ports: 16 to 32 ports
- ASIC: Brocade Condor ASIC — introduced ISL (Inter-Switch Links) trunking for improved link aggregation.
- Brocade Switch 24000 (Director-class) (2004)
- Speed: 4 Gbps FC
- Ports: Up to 128 ports (modular chassis)
- ASIC: Brocade Condor ASIC — supported advanced fabric-based services like virtual fabrics (VF).
- Brocade Switch 48000 (Director-class) (2005)
- Speed: 4 Gbps FC
- Ports: Up to 256 ports (modular)
- ASIC: Brocade Condor ASIC — enterprise-grade solution with high-availability design and core-edge fabric support.
- Higher Bandwidth: 4 Gbps speeds improved storage network performance for virtualization and database workloads.
- Condor ASIC: Introduced hardware-based routing, trunking, and better congestion management.
- Advanced Zoning: Supported Virtual Fabrics (VF) and NPIV (N-Port ID Virtualization).
- Scalability: Modular designs (like the 48000) allowed massive port scaling for enterprise SANs.
- ISL Trunking: Combined multiple links into a single high-bandwidth pipe for better inter-switch communication.