Nortel BayStack 5510-24T, BayStack 5510-48T Specifications

The way in which businesses use LANs is
changing and the performance requirement at
the edge of the network is becoming more
demanding. IP telephony and other collabo­rative applications are driving more traffic to
the edge of the network. As file sizes continue
to grow, users need more bandwidth. Quite
simply, the convergence of voice, video, data,
and storage enables users to do more from
their desktop. Enterprises need to be able to
address today’s increased demands and still
prepare for the unknown demands of tomor­row. By re-assessing how they’re using the
wiring closet, they can achieve both goals,
and be assured that their investments will be
protected for a long time to come.

Part of the Nortel Networks BayStack* 5000
series, BayStack 5510 Switches are 1 rack unit
high stackable 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
Layer 3routing switches that are designed to
provide high-density Gigabit desktop
connectivity for mid-size and large enterprise
customers’ wiring closets. BayStack 5510

Product Brief

BayStack 5510 Switch benefits

• Up to 384 ports of Gigabit desktop connectivity
in an 8-rack unit high design—the highest
density in the industry

• Industry-leading Gigabit Ethernet perform­ance with innovative stacking using FAST
stack (Flexible Advanced Stacking
Technology)—providing up to 640 Gbps

• High-performance switch fabric of 160 Gbps
assures wire-speed operation with no packet
loss

• Hardware-based Layer 3 routing†at wire-
speed and across the stack

• Intelligence at the network edge with
Quality of Service (QoS)

• Cost-effective plug-and-play stacking with
built-in stacking ports

• Up to 16 built-in SFP GBIC uplink ports
in a stack

• Flexible stacking across BayStack 5000 series
switches—a stack is managed as a single
entity with a single IP address

• Unmatched resilient connectivity and stack­ability for minimal network downtime

• Secure access and data traffic protection

BayStack 5510 Stack

Switches offer a scalable and resilient solution,
providing exceptional security features, and
support for enhanced convergence while
minimizing capital and operational expenses.
The BayStack 5000 family of switches repre­sent the next-generation in innovation and
performance in a stackable solution.

BayStack 5510 Switches are available in two
models—the BayStack 5510-48T Switch
(Figure 1) and the BayStack 5510-24T Switch.
Power over Ethernet versions of the switches
are planned for release in the future.

Nortel Networks

BayStack 5510 Switches

Figure 1. The BayStack 5510-48T Switch

Unit replacement feature

In the unlikely event that a switch fails in a
stack, the affected switch can easily be
replaced without disrupting the stack. Using
the unit replacement feature, the configura­tion of the failed switch may be copied from
a server to the new switch. The switch can
then be put back in the stack and the stack is
rebuilt automatically without affecting normal
operation of the stack.

Up to 16 built-in GBIC ports
in a stack

BayStack 5510 Switches have two built-in SFP
GBIC ports for dedicated uplink connectivity
to network core switches such as the Passport*

8600. This doubles the uplink bandwidth as
GBIC ports are not required for stacking
purposes. Using the proven Distributed
Multi-Link Trunking (DMLT) resiliency
feature, up to 16 GBIC ports are available for
pure uplink connectivity in a full stack—
among the highest in the market.

BayStack 5510 Switches have also been archi­tected to support future technologies such as
10 Gigabit uplinks.

Plug-and-play stacking with
built-in stacking ports

BayStack 5510 Switches have built-in stack­ing ports for faster, plug-and-play stacking.
This is more cost-effective as cascade
modules are not required. This stacking
design frees up both of the uplink ports for
dedicated connectivity to the backbone.

80 Gbps

80 Gbps

80 Gbps

80 Gbps

80 Gbps

80 Gbps

80 Gbps

80 Gbps

640 Gbps

Max. stacking

bandwidth for

the stack

80 Gbps

stacking bandwidth

per switch

40 G

bps

40 G

bps

Downstream traffic

Upstream traffic

40 Gbps

40 Gbps

40 Gbps40 Gbps40 Gbps40 Gbps

40 Gbps40 Gbps40 Gbps

Figure 2. Innovative FAST stacking architecture—supporting up and downstream traffic

2

Highest-density Gigabit
desktop switching

The BayStack 5510-48T Switch features 48
10/100/1000BASE-T RJ-45 ports for
desktop switching and two built-in SFP
(Small Form factor Pluggable) GBIC ports
for uplink. Port 47 and Port 48 offer configu­ration flexibility by allowing the network
administrator to configure each port as either
10/100/1000 or make use of the built-in SFP
GBIC. As many as eight BayStack 5510-48T
Switches can be stacked to achieve up to
384 10/100/1000 ports for highest-density
desktop switching.

The BayStack 5510-24T Switch offers
24 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ-45 ports for
desktop switching and two built-in GBIC ports
for uplink. Port 23 and Port 24 offer configu­ration flexibility as either a 10/100/1000 or a
built-in SFP GBIC port. Both BayStack 5510­24T and 5510-48T switches may be
combined in a single stack for maximum
flexibility.

Innovative FAST
stacking design

Nortel Networks innovative FAST (Flexible
Advanced Stacking Technology) stacking
design of the BayStack 5510 allows for simul­taneous bi-directional traffic flow on each
stacking port (Figure 2).In a full stack, this
design yields up to 640 Gbps—the highest
stacking bandwidth in the industry today.

Switch fabric architecture
offering non-blocking
wire-speed performance

The BayStack 5510 Switches have a high­performance Layer 3 switching fabric with a
maximum of 160 Gbps forwarding bandwidth
and wire-speed performance. The forwarding
rate for the BayStack 5510-48T is 71.4 Mpps
(million packets per second) and for the
BayStack 5510-24T is 35.7 Mpps

Layer 3 routing

†

The BayStack 5510 Switch architecture
supports wire-speed Layer 3 IP routing across
the stack with static and local route support.
Software feature enhancements are planned
to include support for routing protocols such
as Routing Information Protocol (RIP v1/v2)

†

and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)†.

Compact form factor

The BayStack 5510 Switches are offered in a
compact one-rack unit high design. An eight
unit stack provides up to 384 10/100/1000
ports. This allows for significant space and
cost savings in the wiring closet.

Auto stack configuration

The stack operation of the BayStack 5510
Switches allows for easy addition and dele­tion of units to the stack without service
interruption. This increases the efficiency of
deployment and configuration.

Nortel Networks unique FAST stacking
design supports an optimal data flow
across the stack using a shortest path
algorithm.

Most vendors today employ a traditional
ring architecture, meaning that a packet
travels on the ring in only one direction.
For example, in a stack of eight switches,
if a packet needs to go from unit 2 to
unit 3, it can get there in a single hop.
But if a packet needs to go from unit
3 to unit 2, then it has to traverse from
3 to 4, 4 to 5, 5 to 6, and so on until it
reaches unit 2. This requires seven hops.

Nortel Networks FAST stack design uses
the shortest past algorithm, which means
that the packet would traverse directly
from unit 3 to unit 2 in a single hop.

As shown here, a unit
can simultaneously
have traffic flow to
each adjacent unit at
40 Gbps full duplex.

3

Recessed connectors

Figure 3. Plug-and-play stacking with recessed stack connectors

BayStack 5510 stack

Server

Passport 8600 Switch

DMLT across stack with
load-balancing and
fail-over protection
for uninterrupted
access to servers or the
network center

Figure 4. Distributed Multi-Link Trunking across stack

Recessed stacking connectors
for higher reliability

BayStack 5510 Switches are designed with
recessed stacking connectors that save premium
closet space and protect the integrity of the
stack from accidental contact (Figure 3).

BoSS (BayStack operating system
Switching Software)

BoSS for BayStack 5510 Switches is a single
software image that allows BayStack 5510-48T,
BayStack 5510-24T, and future BayStack
5510 series Switches to stack together. BoSS
for BayStack 5510 Switches is specific to this
next generation of stacking switches, with a
software image that supports this new archi­tecture. Earlier BayStack switches support a
different version of BoSS—although all share
the same core software.

Simplified network operations

BoSS simplifies network operations by reduc­ing the number of steps required for switch
software updates. With BoSS, only a single
image needs to be downloaded from Nortel
Networks support site for all BayStack 5510
Switch types. Loading the image to different
switches is also considerably simplified. The
image is loaded only to the base unit of the
stack which automatically loads it to other
switches in the stack.

Multi-Link Trunking

Multi-Link Trunking (MLT) enables grouping
of links between the BayStack 5510 and
another switch or server to provide greater
bandwidth with active redundant links. Nortel
Networks unique Distributed Multi-Link
Tr unking (DMLT) feature allows trunked
ports to span multiple units of the stack for
fail-safe connectivity to mission-critical
servers and the network center (Figure 4).
BayStack 5510 Switches have been archi­tected to support up to 32 trunks per switch
or stack, with each trunk consisting of up to
eight members per trunk. Each trunk can
provide bandwidth of up to 16 Gbps.

The Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT)
feature of Passport* 8600 eliminates single
points of failure in the network and allows
wiring closet switches, such as the BayStack
5510, to have multiple active connections
to the network core

(Figure 5). All links from

a distributed multi-link trunk can be active
simultaneously. This allows customers to load­balance their network, double the bandwidth,
and use all the ports they have paid for.