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ADTRAN Upgrades NetVanta Gigabit Ethernet Switches with ActivChassis Technology

The ADTRAN (News - Alert) NetVanta 1600 series of Gigabit Ethernet switches now achieve greater efficiency and flexibility in delivering bandwidth-intensive applications thanks to the new ActivChassis stacking technology, a new software feature that allows network administrators to interconnect multiple switches and view the stack as a single, logical chassis-like system.

ActivChassis ensures constant infrastructure uptime and delivers control efficiency in the network with control and management consolidated to a single viewpoint. ActivChassis provides backplane switching capacity up to 128 Gbps. It also has the ability to interconnect switches scattered across a campus environment and specialized features for network high-availability.

According to company officials, ActivChassis provides enterprises with highly resilient, high-performance networks that are simple to manage while simultaneously allowing them to incrementally grow their network as their business grows. 

ActivChassis enables up to eight switches to be interconnected and actively managed as a single, intelligent system. As a result, users can control up to 400 switch ports across distances up to 10,000 meters. Network administrators can log into the stack, view all available switch ports, make changes, and have all switches in the stack share a single configuration file and IP address.

NetVanta 1600 series Gigabit Ethernet switches are ideally designed to suit for a variety of flexible ActivChassis stacking architectures no matter the customer environment. For example, backplane throughput speeds up to 128 Gbps can be achieved when used with the NetVanta 1600 Dual Stacking Module for high-speed connectivity.

NetVanta 1600 Dual SFP+ Module allows ActivChassis configurations that span multiple wiring closets and even across entire campus deployments. When configured in a ring topology, all uplinks ports are fully utilized resulting in no single point of failure in the network. In case one switch goes down, all other switches in the stack remain connected and active for maximum network resiliency, the company said.

“In our continued commitment to providing valuable solutions, ActivChassis enables businesses of all sizes—from small and medium enterprises to large campus environments—to cost-effectively grow their network to accommodate bandwidth-hungry services and devices, simplify network administration and enhance network redundancy,” said Todd Lattanzi (News - Alert), director of product management for ADTRAN’s Enterprise Networks Division, in a statement.

ActivChassis technology is available as a software upgrade for the NetVanta 1638 and the NetVanta 1638P Gigabit Ethernet switches.

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Edited by Rachel Ramsey