Abstract

Blade Network Technologies, Inc. commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate the Layer 2/3 performance of Nortel Layer 2/3 10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module (ESM) with three 10GbE ports and Layer 2/3 10Gb Ethernet Switch Module with 20 10GbE ports – designed and manufactured by Blade Network Technologies for IBM BladeCenter – against Cisco’s popular Catalyst 6509 Switch equipped with comparable switch modules.

Tests measured the Layer 2/3 throughput, latency, multicast performance of the switch modules in a variety of common network topologies. The Tolly Group also compared the price/performance of the switch modules. Testing was conducted in October 2006 and utilized Spirent Communications’ TestCenter SPT-9000A test traffic generator.