The emergence of virtualization technology has transformed the modern data center by improving server utilization, reducing power requirements and increasing both availability and scalability. At the same time, the requirement for server density has led to the growth in blade servers. These trends have had an impact on data center networking. A typical “non-virtualized” data center has three network layers: Top-of-Rack Switch: interconnects the servers in a rack End-of-Row Switch: interconnects the racks Core Switch: Interconnects all rows and other devices Today’s hypervisors utilize an internal “virtual switch” which facilitates communications between virtual machines (VMs) within a server and between those VMs and the rest of the network. This virtual switch adds a fourth tier to the network infrastructure. Many blade servers today utilize an internal “blade switch” to aggregate traffic for each of the physical servers within the blade server chassis. These switches add a fifth tier to the network. The combination of virtual switches and blade switches raises the number of tiers from 3 to 5 – significantly increasing latency and increasing the number of network elements within the data center. This increases the complexity of data center management. Extreme Networks Direct Attach™ eliminates the virtual switch layer, simplifying the network and improving performance. Extreme Networks high-performance BlackDiamond ® 8800 series switches with 8900-series high-density modules enable data center simplification by reducing network tiers to 3 or 2 tiers, depending on the size of the data center. The Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 8900-G96T-c modules, in conjunction with MRJ21 cable technology from TE Connectivity , offer a comprehensive solution for implementing Extreme Networks Direct Attach architecture in data centers. Direct Attach moves switching functionality back to the network, reducing management complexity by eliminating the virtual switch (vSwitch), and increasing performance and security.