Force10

Dell Force10

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Computer networking
Predecessor	Force10 Networks
Founder	PK Dubey, Naresh Nigam, Som Sikdar
Fate	Acquired by Dell and brand retired
Successor	Dell Networking
Headquarters	United States
Area served	Worldwide (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific)
Products	Ethernet switches (Z series, C series, E series, S series), telecommunications equipment
Parent	Dell (from August 2011)

Dell Force10—previously known as nCore Networks and later Force10 Networks—was a U.S.-based enterprise focused on manufacturing 10 Gigabit and 40 Gigabit Ethernet switches tailored for corporate, educational, and government network infrastructures. The company maintained a worldwide presence with offices located throughout North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.

Dell finalized its acquisition of Force10 in August 2011, subsequently rebranding the business as Dell Force10. By the middle of 2013, the Force10 name was retired, with its products integrated into Dell Networking’s data center portfolio, while some product lines were sold off.

Establishment

The company was founded by PK Dubey, Naresh Nigam, and Som Sikdar. Its name was inspired by the Beaufort Force 10 storm scale, symbolizing its commitment to delivering high-performance 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching and routing solutions.

Corporate Acquisitions

In January 2009, Turin Networks acquired Force10; Turin itself had previously merged Carrier Access Corporation and White Rock Networks. On July 20, 2011, Dell announced plans to purchase Force10 to strengthen its data center networking capabilities with an emphasis on Ethernet switching. After the acquisition, Dell Force10 continued to provide non-Ethernet backhaul and metro-access platforms.

In May 2013, Jabil’s subsidiary Telmar Network Technology obtained Force10’s Turin transport product lines from Dell. Telmar resumed development and support for products such as Traverse, TraverseEdge, TransAccess, TransNav, MasterSeries, Adit, Wide Bank, and Broadmore.

Later that year, iQor acquired Telmar’s aftermarket services segment, which included extended life products from Alcatel, DECS, Force10/Turin, and Transport Access. This acquisition ensured ongoing global support for telecommunications infrastructure encompassing digital cross-connect systems (DCS), SONET/SDH optical transport networks, and network access solutions.

Products

Force10 Networks provided multiple product categories including four distinct series of Ethernet switches alongside specialized telecommunications and metropolitan networking equipment:

• Ethernet switches
• Traverse series: Chassis-based multiservice transport switches delivering SDH/SONET, carrier Ethernet, Digital cross connect system, and cellular network services. These chassis ranged from 6 to 20 slots with capacities up to 95 Gbps per shelf.
• Master series: A backhaul platform designed for mobile/cellular networks available in a compact two-slot (1 RU) or larger three RU eight-slot chassis supporting backhaul for 2G through 3G GSM systems.
• Axxius platform: Backhaul solution supporting GSM and UMTS cellular networks over E1 (SDH) or T1 (SONET) infrastructures.
• Adit 600: Carrier-grade access platform enabling telecommunication providers to offer generic access to their NextGen IP networks.
• TransNav: Software solution for managing metropolitan area networks.

Ethernet Switches

The core product line under Dell Force10 consisted of Ethernet switches organized into four series:

• Z series: Distributed core switches for datacenters; the flagship Z9000 model is a 2 RU device featuring 40 Gbit/s QSFP+ ports with a total switching capacity of 2.5 Tbit/s—offering either 32 ports at 40 Gbit/s or up to 128 ports at 10 Gbit/s using QSFP+ to SFP+ splitters.
• C series: Core chassis switches for datacenters featuring two models—the C150 (9 RU) and C300 (13 RU)—supporting both 1 and 10 Gbit/s speeds.
• E series: Virtualized core chassis switches intended for campus, office environments or datacenter aggregation/core layers; offered in three models supporting aggregation at speeds of 1 and 10 Gbit/s.
• S series: Edge switches comprising eight models available in either 1RU or 2RU configurations supporting both 1 and 10 Gbit/s Ethernet connections.

In January 2002, Force10 introduced the E-Series E1200 switch/router that delivered line-rate performance for 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching. This launch marked the company’s expansion from LAN switching into midsize data centers and enterprise campus networks. The product lineup also included E-Series switch/routers, C300 chassis switches, S-Series access switches, and P-Series security appliances.

In 2007, Force10 was granted a patent related to 100 Gigabit Ethernet switching technology.

Force10’s proprietary operating system—FTOS (Force10 Operating System)—was built upon NetBSD, reflecting a deliberate choice favoring stability and open-source development. In 2013, FTOS was rebranded as DNOS within the Dell Networking suite. Additionally, Force10 contributed financially to the NetBSD Foundation to support ongoing research initiatives and open development efforts.

Between January 19, 2012 and mid-2013, products were marketed under Dell branding as part of Dell’s integration strategy.

S Series

The S series Ethernet switches deliver port speeds of 1 Gbit/s, 10 Gbit/s, and 40 Gbit/s within compact 1U or 2U chassis. Beginning with the S25 lineup, these devices provide 24 ports at 1 Gbit/s, available with Power over Ethernet (S25V), copper (S25N), or fiber/SFP options (S25V). The S50 series extends this capacity to 48 ports.

Models such as the S55 and S60 maintain 1 Gbit/s access ports combined with 10 Gbit/s uplink capabilities, each designed to meet particular requirements like minimal latency or extensive data buffering (notably the S60).

At the premium end, the S4810 (fiber) and S4820 (copper) models offer 48 ports of 10 Gbit/s—either SFP+ or 10GBASE-T—alongside four QSFP+ 40 Gbit/s uplinks. Targeted at datacenter and campus environments, these switches function effectively as distribution or collapsed core devices. They support stacking through 10 Gbit/s or 40 Gbit/s connections using fiber, copper, or twinax cables, with latency as low as 800 nanoseconds for the S4810 and up to 3.3 microseconds for the S4820. Both utilize the Broadcom Trident+ ASIC, identical to that found in Dell’s PowerConnect 8100 series but operate on FTOS rather than Broadcom’s native firmware.

In June 2013, Dell unveiled the S5000 series, marking the launch of the Dell Networking brand and rebranding FTOS as Dell Networking Operating System (DNOS).

Since late 2012, Dell Force10 has also offered the FTOS-driven Force10 MXL 10/40 Gbit/s switch designed for integration within the Dell M1000e blade enclosure. The MXL is essentially an S4810 variant in a chassis form factor featuring 32 internal 10GBASE-KR ports, two external uplinks/stacking ports at 40 Gbit/s, plus two expansion slots that accommodate QSFP+ or SFP+/10GBaseT uplinks.

Moreover, the IO Aggregator includes 32 internal 10GBASE-KR ports, two QSFP+ 40 Gbit/s uplinks, and two slots capable of housing either dual-port QSFP+ or quad-port SFP+/10GBaseT uplinks.

All Ethernet switches from Dell Force10 operate on FTOS; however, certain models also support Open Network Linux from the Open Compute Project.

Architecture

Except for the E-series, all products supporting 10 Gbit/s speeds employ Broadcom Trident+ ASICs or other Broadcom-based chips for their 1 Gbit/s variants. In contrast, the E-series utilizes a proprietary ASIC developed by Force10. Layer 2/3 switches across the portfolio implement a spine/leaf topology with internal communication managed via the backplane. The Z-series applies this architecture to create a distributed core spanning multiple switches. Switches equipped with 40 Gbit/s interfaces can either establish direct switch-to-switch links at that speed or segment these connections into four separate 10 Gbit/s links using direct attach cables or fiber optics for connectivity to other switches or compatible 10 Gbit/s network interface cards.

Chassis switches

While Z-series and S-series units are available as standalone switches in either 1 RU or 2 RU sizes, the E- and C-series are built on chassis platforms. These chassis switches incorporate a fully passive backplane design that improves energy efficiency and supports higher bandwidths without necessitating redesigns. This backplane architecture has been consistent since its introduction with Terascale switches in 2004 and accommodates speeds ranging from 10 Gbit/s up to current implementations at 40 Gbit/s and anticipated future upgrades to 100 Gbit/s. The clock speed of the backplane is regulated by routing or switching modules, made possible due to the absence of active components within the backplane itself.

Power consumption

Force10’s chassis-based datacenter core switches, specifically the E-series, exhibit considerably lower energy usage compared to rivals such as the Cisco Nexus 7000 and Juniper EX8216. When operating at full capacity with 1 Gbit/s ports, the E1200i utilizes just 4.77 Watts per Gbps of throughput, whereas the Nexus consumes 9.28 Watts and Juniper uses 6.15 Watts. This efficiency lead continues at maximum 10 Gbit/s port load, with Force10 at 3.34 W/Gbps, Nexus at 7.59 W/Gbps, and Juniper at 4.69 W/Gbps.

Customers

Force10’s clientele spans various industries including media, financial services, oil and gas, Web 2.0 platforms, and gaming, along with service providers such as Internet exchanges, wholesale carriers, cable operators, and content delivery networks. Prominent organizations utilizing Force10 products include Microsoft, Google, Facebook, LexisNexis, Zynga, Level(3), TATA Communications, Yahoo!, Sega, NYSE Euronext, Veritas DGC, Equinix, CERN, NOAA, University College London Networks Research Group, and Baylor College of Medicine.

See also

• Digital cross connect system

External links

• Dell Force10 Configuration Guides and Command Line References
• Quick Configuration Guides - Dell Storage Wiki
• Force10 data center switch delivers impressive performance - Network World
• How does the new Force10 S60 stack up? 5 switches compared - Network World
• www.iqormarketplace.com