ADTRAN has announced its second generation of high-density, managed Layer 3, 28-port Gigabit Ethernet switches. These platforms deliver greater bandwidth and feature enhancements that optimize business communications, mission-critical network availability and productivity, in addition to a wealth of new features and power conservation, all in the industry's smallest form factor.

The NetVanta 1534 and NetVanta 1544 offer all of the functionality of first-generation models, in a half-rack form factor -- the smallest in the industry. With the ability to place NetVanta units side by side, customers with limited rack space, such as those in hospitality or retail, can realize the network performance and features they need today, with room for future growth. These platforms offer an innovative design that not only enables a smaller form factor, but enables both noise reduction and energy savings with up to 70 percent savings in power consumption versus comparable models. The design also addresses the need for business continuity with redundant power support.

"ADTRAN is making high-performance switching even more affordable for the small and mid-size enterprise," said Rob Arnold, senior analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "These NetVanta switch platforms add unique high-bandwidth capabilities, enhanced performance and new features, all while enabling the customer to conserve energy and rack space."

In addition to these innovations, ADTRAN's NetVanta switch platforms offer valuable management tools designed to enhance security, network availability and simplify management. These include:

Desktop Security Auditing is a unique feature from ADTRAN that enables IT administrators to audit client PCs and ensure network security. Desktop Security Auditing uses the Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP) Protocol to monitor the health of client computers. This protocol ensures that Microsoft OS-based systems connected to the network are using appropriate corporate policies, such as firewall or antivirus settings. This allows network administrators to quickly identify devices on the network that do not meet corporate IT security policies.

Network Forensics provides a unique method of simplifying network administration. Using this feature, system administrators can readily review collected information about any device on the network. This tool maps a device's IP or MAC address to the corresponding switch port location.

Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) Diagnostics provides a comprehensive means for network administrators to troubleshoot SFP and fiber connections by helping them identify problem areas such as bad fiber splices or mismatched SFP modules.

"With a unique space-saving form factor and standards-based Ethernet ports featuring two and one-half times the bandwidth found in competitive offerings, ADTRAN's NetVanta Ethernet switches allow customers to conserve rack space while providing higher performance switching," said Todd Lattanzi, senior product manager, ADTRAN Enterprise Networks Division. "Customers can both increase port density and bandwidth between switches as business applications drive new requirements, allowing for an innovative pay-as-you-grow approach."

The NetVanta 1544 is a Layer 3 switch offering 24 fixed 10/100/1000Base-T ports plus four 2.5 Gbps SFP ports making it ideal for switch aggregation or Gigabit-to-the-desktop applications. This device is perfect for applications where there is a need to aggregate multiple access switches and provide inter-VLAN switching. The NetVanta 1534 offers 24 fixed 10/100/1000Base-T ports plus two 2.5 Gbps SFP ports and two 1 Gbps SFP ports. This managed, 28-port, Layer 3 lite, Gigabit Ethernet switch is designed for fast, secure, cost-effective LAN switching. It is perfect for higher-bandwidth applications, Gigabit-to-the-desktop deployments and network security.