IBM Cuts Deals on Selected Network Switches
August 9, 2010 Timothy Prickett Morgan
While The Four Hundred was on hiatus last week, IBM announced some pretty deep discounting on various networking products commonly used with its System x products, which are popular among the Power Systems base as well. The deal, in announcement letter 310-229, applies to five different Ethernet switches resold by IBM. Under that deal, if you buy through IBM’s Web site or over the telephone, you get 30 percent shaved off the price. That is as good as most midrange shops were going to be able to negotiate on their own. Presumably IBM has some inventory it wants to move, and move before December 31, when this deal runs out. Two switches from Blade Network Technologies are on the discount list: the RackSwitch G8000R, a 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch that sits in the top of a server rack, now costs $4,514 instead of $6,449; the G8124R, a 24-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch, now costs $9,519, down from $13,599. A 48-port, rack-based Gigabit Ethernet switch made by Brocade Communications and resold by IBM as the Ethernet Switch B48Y now costs $6,019, down from $8,599. Another rebadged Brocade switch, the Ethernet Switch B24X, a 24-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch with four uplinks, now costs $9,239, down from $13,199. The Ethernet Switch J48E, which is a rebadged 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch with optional 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks that is made by Juniper Networks, now costs $7,783, down from $11,118. CORRECTION: This article was corrected on 08/09/10.
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