By Ed Silverstein

There is now global availability of a new 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GigE) enterprise switch from Alcatel-Lucent that the company says sets a powerful standard in non-blocking switch capacity, port density, low-power consumption and price-per-port. The OmniSwitch 10K Modular LAN Chassis is the first of a generation of network infrastructure offerings that exemplify Alcatel-Lucent's approach to enabling Application Fluent Networks, the company says. By leveraging the intelligence in the OmniSwitch 10K, enterprises benefit from a network based on user, application, device and location - resulting in better services as well as streamlined operations, and lower management costs for IT. Businesses also save on capital expenditures because the average price per non-blocking port of the OmniSwitch 10K is one-quarter of its nearest competitor, the company said. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent unveiled its Application Fluent Network approach for its next-generation network infrastructure products.