Overview The Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3120 represents the next generation networking solution for blade server environments. Built upon Cisco's proven hardware & IOS software, the Cisco Catalyst 3120 is engineered with unique technologies specifically designed to meet the rigors of the blade server infrastructure. Both switches are designed to deliver scaleable, high performance, highly resilient connectivity while supporting ongoing data center initiatives to reduce server infrastructure complexity, management & TCO. With the Cisco CBS 3120 series switches, HP & Cisco introduce a technology unique to blade server enclosures that allows multiple switches to act as a single entity. This switch stacking technology takes the individual physical switches within a rack & treats them as one logical switch. This innovation is the foundation of the switches' ability to simplify operations & management. Additional IOS upgrades make the CBS 3120 extremely versatile. Features Cisco Stacking Technology • Up to nine switches can be combined into a single logical switch Multiple IOS options • Base IOS contains the most popular feature set including PVLANs, IPv 6 host support & most Layer 3 routing protocols Greater manageability • The entire stack is managed as a single switch & looks as one single switch to provisioning software Security • Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a logical network topology configured on top of a physical network topology which conserves bandwidth & improves security by limiting traffic to specific groups of devices