The Cisco Nexus® 7000 Enhanced F2-Series 48-Port 1 and 10GBASE-T Ethernet Copper Module (referred to as the Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module in this document) offers outstanding flexibility and wire-rate performance on each port. The module enables the deployment of high-density, low-latency, scalable data center architectures based on the IEEE 802.3an standard, best known as 10GBASE-T.



The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches provide the foundation of the Cisco® Unified Fabric. They are a modular data center-class product line designed for highly scalable 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks. The fabric architecture scales beyond 15 terabits per second (Tbps) and is designed to support future 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. To meet the requirements of the most mission-critical network environments, the switches deliver continuous system operations and virtualized services. The Cisco Nexus 7000 Switches is powered by the proven Cisco NX-OS Software operating system, with enhanced features to deliver real-time system upgrades with exceptional manageability and serviceability. Its innovative unified fabric design is purpose built to support consolidation of IP and storage networks on a single lossless Ethernet fabric.



10GBASE-T Solution Benefits



The 10GBASE-T solution for the Cisco Nexus 7000 Switches delivers high-performance, cost-effective, and efficient next-generation RJ-45-based server connectivity. Based on the IEEE 802.3an standard, 10GBASE-T is a crucial technology for designing next-generation data center architectures with:

- Reduced deployment costs through integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet, lower cable costs, and flexible cable lengths

- Simplified transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet through backward compatibility with existing 1 Gigabit Ethernet networks Preserved user experience and expertise of previous generations of BASE-T

- New consolidation usage models to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) with advanced I/O virtualization and unified networking



Module Features and Benefits



The Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module (Figure 1) is a low-latency, high-performance, high-density 10GBASE-T Ethernet module designed for mission-critical data center networks. The Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module provides the highest density of wire-rate 10GBASE-T Ethernet ports on the market, with up to 768 wire-rate 10GBASE-T Ethernet ports in a single system, through the use of the Cisco Nexus 7000 18-Slot Switch chassis.



The Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e-Series Copper Module is built with switch-on-chip (SoC) architecture, in which a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) implements all the module functions, including ingress buffering, forwarding lookup operations, access control lists (ACLs), quality-of-service (QoS) tables, fabric interfaces, and virtual output queuing (VOQ). Each SoC manages four front-panel interfaces. This type of design increases performance while lowering the power and cooling requirements of the module.



Each port of the Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module can also be used at 1 Gigabit Ethernet speed, allowing IT departments to migrate their servers base to 10GBASE-T based on the specific needs of their networks. Excellent for end-of-row (EoR) and middle-of-row (MoR) designs, the Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module provides flexibility and scalability and a comprehensive feature set.



The Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module offers customers low 10GBASE-T power consumption, with less than 9 watts (W) per port for typical deployment scenarios. The power efficiency of the module is further improved by enabling the Energy-Efficient Ethernet function.



A standard developed by the IEEE 802.3az task force, Energy-Efficient Ethernet is a set of enhancements that enables less power consumption in response to changes in network demand. By sending a low-power-idle (LPI) indication signal for a specified time, the transmit chips in the system can be turned off. LPI is sent periodically to refresh the sleep mode. When there is data to transmit, a normal idle signal is sent to wake the transmit system before data is sent. The data link is considered to be always operational because the receive signal circuit remains active even when the transmit path is in sleep mode.



By enabling Energy-Efficient Ethernet the Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module, organizations can achieve an additional 15 percent power reduction in typical deployments.



The module’s power efficiency is achieved without compromising its capabilities. Besides the traditional Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding capabilities, the Cisco Nexus 7000 F2e Copper Module delivers Cisco FabricPath technology based on IETF TRILL. Cisco FabricPath consists of a set of multipath Ethernet technologies, combining the reliability and scalability benefits of Layer 3 routing with the flexibility and “plug-and-play” aspects of Layer 2 Ethernet networks.



With Cisco FabricPath, organizations can now build resilient and flexible Layer 2 networks, no longer relying on Spanning Tree Protocol and its inherent bisectional bandwidth limitations.



The benefits of Cisco FabricPath include:



- Operational simplicity: Cisco FabricPath embeds an autodiscovery mechanism that does not require any additional platform configuration. By offering Layer 2 connectivity, this “VLAN anywhere” characteristic simplifies provisioning and offers workload flexibility across the network.