Abstract

Virtualization and cloud computing environments demand both flexibility and high-performance switching. The Lenovo ThinkSystem NE2552E Flex Switch paired with the ThinkSystem QLogic QL45214 25Gb Ethernet adapter provides both. Slotting into the Lenovo Flex System Enterprise chassis, this switch offers up to 52 ports of 25GbE or 36 ports of 25GbE combined with 4 ports of 100GbE. The QL45214 provides high-performance, 25GbE server connectivity.

Lenovo commissioned Tolly to evaluate the performance and capacity of the NE2552E along with L2/L3 interoperability with the Cisco Systems Nexus 9000 switch. Testing also validated the performance benefits of using 25GbE rather than 10GbE for VMware vMotion virtual machine migration using the QLogic. QL45214 Ethernet adapter.

The Lenovo switches and QL45214 tested delivered wire-speed performance and low latency, demonstrated L2/L3 table capacity and illustrated the performance benefits of 25GbE for virtualized environments. Additionally, the switch demonstrated a range of L2 and L3 interoperability with the Cisco Systems 9000 switch.