Brocade 6520 BR-6520-48-8G-R Data Sheet

BROCADE 6520 SPECIFICATIONS

System Architecture

Fibre Channel ports

Switch mode (default): 48-, 72-, and 96-port 

configurations (24-port increments through 

Ports on Demand [PoD] licenses);  

E, F, M, D, EX ports

Scalability

Full fabric architecture with a maximum of 

239 switches 

Certified maximum

6000 active nodes; 56 switches, 19 hops 

in Brocade Fabric OS

®

 fabrics; larger fabrics 

certified as required

Performance

Fibre Channel: 2.125 Gbps line speed,  

full duplex; 4.25 Gbps line speed, full duplex; 

8.5 Gbps line speed, full duplex; 10.53 Gbps 

line speed, full duplex; 14.025 Gbps line 

speed, full duplex; auto-sensing of 2, 4, 8, and 

16 Gbps port speeds; 10 Gbps optionally 

programmable to fixed port speed  

ISL trunking

Frame-based Trunking with up to eight 

16 Gbps ports per ISL trunk; up to 128 Gbps 

per ISL trunk. Exchange-based load balancing 

across ISLs with DPS included in Brocade 

Fabric OS. 

Aggregate bandwidth

1536 Gbps: 96 ports × 16 Gbps data rate

Fabric latency

Latency for locally switched ports is 700 ns; 

latency between port groups is 2.1 μsec,  

cut-through routing at 16 Gbps between 

locally switched groups.
Encryption/compression is 5.5 μsec per node; 

Forward Error Correction (FEC) adds 400 ns 

between E_Ports (enabled by default).

Maximum frame size

2112 byte payload

Frame buffers

8192 dynamically allocated

Classes of service

Class 2, Class 3, Class F (inter-switch frames)

Port types

D_Port (ClearLink Diagnostic Port), E_Port, 

EX_Port, F_Port, M_Port (Mirror Port); optional 

port type control

Data traffic types

Fabric switches supporting unicast

Media types

16 Gbps: Brocade 6520 requires Brocade 

hot-pluggable SFP+, LC connector; 16 Gbps 

SWL, LWL, ELWL
10 Gbps: Brocade 6520 requires Brocade 

hot-pluggable SFP+, LC connector; 10 Gbps 

SWL, LWL
8 Gbps: Brocade 6520 requires Brocade hot-

pluggable SFP+, LC connector; 8 Gbps SWL, 

LWL, ELWL
Fibre Channel distance subject to fiber-optic 

cable and port speed

USB

One USB port for system log file downloads or 

firmware upgrades

Fabric services

Monitoring and Alerting Policy Suite (MAPS); 

Flow Vision; Brocade Advanced Performance 

Monitoring (APM) (including Top Talkers for  

E_Ports, F_Ports, and Fabric mode); Brocade 

Adaptive Networking (Ingress Rate Limiting, 

Traffic Isolation, QoS); Bottleneck Detection; 

Brocade Advanced Zoning (default zoning, port/

WWN zoning, broadcast zoning); Dynamic 

Fabric Provisioning (DFP); Dynamic Path 

Selection (DPS); Brocade Extended Fabrics; 

Enhanced BB credit recovery; Enhanced Group 

Management (EGM); Brocade Fabric Watch; 

FDMI; Frame Redirection; Frame-based 

Trunking; FSPF; Integrated Routing; IPoFC; 

Brocade ISL Trunking; Management Server; 

NPIV; NTP v3; Port Fencing; Registered State 

Change Notification (RSCN); Reliable Commit 

Service (RCS); Server Application Optimization 

(SAO); Simple Name Server (SNS); Virtual 

Fabrics (Logical Switch, Logical Fabric) 

Extension

Fibre Channel, in-flight compression  

(Brocade LZO) and encryption (AES-GCM-256); 

integrated optional 10 Gbps Fibre Channel for 

DWDM MAN connectivity