Abstract

Nortel commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate the company’s stackable Ethernet Routing Switch 4548GT-PWR to determine its Layer 2 switching performance, stack resiliency and cost-per-Gigabit of throughput delivered. Nortel commissioned The Tolly Group to measure the Layer 2 switching performance and resiliency of the company’s stackable Ethernet Routing Switch 4500 series switches.

The Nortel ERS 4548GT-PWR is a member of Nortel’s ERS 4500 series of stackable switches that includes Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) models designed to provide high-density desktop connectivity to mid and large enterprise customers’ wiring closets.

Engineers measured the bidirectional Layer 2 performance of the ERS 4548GTPWR in a stack configuration and in standalone mode. Engineers also measured the stackable performance and resiliency characteristics of the Nortel ERS 4548GTPWR in a five-switch stack against a Cisco Systems Inc. C3750G-48PS. Tolly Group engineers also measured the standalone performance of the Nortel ERS 4548GTPWR against the Cisco C3750G-48PS and Cisco C3560G-48PS switches to calculate the cost-per-Gigabit of throughput. The Cisco C3560G-48PS is not a stackable switch and was not used in the five-switch stack performance test. Tests were conducted in May 2007.