Update: Dell PowerConnect line hits 10G

Editor’s note: This entry has been updated with correct pricing information.

Dell today announced the newest member of its PowerConnect network switch line, the PowerConnect 6248. With 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports, including four dual-personality SFP fiber/copper ports, and full layer-3 switching capabilities, the 6248 seems very similar to the existing 6024, albeit with 48 ports. Similar, that is, until you turn it around. In the back of the 6248 are two module ports that can support two 10G interfaces each or handle 48Gbps stacking modules.

The 10G interfaces can be either XFP fiber or CX-4 copper, and both are available straight from Dell. The 6248 can also be used with Dell’s RPS-600 redundant power supply.

All of this is well and good until you see the price. Straight from Dell without any modules, it’s $2,649, which is amazingly low for a switch with these features. The high price of 10G bites into the cost savings with that implementation, as each 10G fiber module is $499, with XFP optics at $1,199. All together, however, it’s still far cheaper than any other 10G-capable switch I’ve ever seen.

In addition to my Cisco and Extreme gear, I’ve been running Dell PowerConnect switches in my lab for several years now, and have yet to see a hardware problem with any of them, which definitely shows their capacity to take a licking and keep on ticking. This newest member joined them last week, and has been running for several days with two 10G interfaces as well as a few dozen gigabit Ethernet links to some big servers. I’ll be doing a full review of the 6248 in an upcoming issue, but so far, so good.