In today’s data centers, virtualization deployments have become commonplace, and this trend is increasing rapidly with the availability of 10 Gigabit Ethernet servers at attraction prices. The combination of increased adoption of these servers and applications with higher bandwidth requirements is increasing the need for dense 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet switching. Moreover, data center architecture is evolving as customers seek to build large-scale nonblocking fabrics to accommodate different applications. The Cisco Nexus® 6001 Switch is part of a robust fabric that can scale significantly to meet data center growth, delivering architectural flexibility that enables any data center to be a more agile, cost-effective, and efficient environment. The Cisco Nexus 6001 Switch is an important component of the Cisco® Unified Data Center architecture, complementing existing Cisco Nexus switches. The Cisco Nexus 6001 is an energy-efficient switch that offers high port density in one rack unit (1RU), supports 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), provides integrated Layer 2 and 3 features at wire speed, and offers low latency of approximately 1 microsecond for any packet size. With a choice of front-to-back (port-side exhaust) and back-to-front (port-side intake) airflow options, the switch is designed for a broad range of traditional data center and large-scale virtualized cloud deployments. The Cisco Nexus 6001 Switch runs the industry-leading Cisco NX-OS Software operating system, providing customers with features and capabilities that are widely deployed around the world. Cisco NX-OS Software is a purpose-built data center operating system designed for performance, resiliency, scalability, manageability, and programmability. It meets Ethernet and storage networking requirements, providing a robust and comprehensive feature set that can meet the demanding requirements of virtualization and automation in present and future data centers. The Cisco enhanced fabric solution allows the transparent integration of the virtual and physical devices on a unified network. In addition, the comprehensive Cisco NX-OS service set can be used to create unique innovations for customized solutions. Cisco Nexus 6001P: The Cisco Nexus 6001P (Figure 1) is a 1RU, 10- and 40- Gigabit Ethernet switch offering wire-speed performance for up to sixty-four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports (using Quad Small Form‑Factor Pluggable [QSFP] breakout cables) for Ethernet and FCoE traffic, with an overall throughput of 1.28 terabits per second (Tbps). The Cisco Nexus 6001P offers 48 fixed 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports and four 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ ports. Each 40 Gigabit Ethernet port can be split into four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports using a QSFP+ breakout cable. The Cisco Nexus 6001P delivers low port-to-port latency of approximately 1 microsecond and low jitter independent of packet size using cut-through switching architecture and with features enabled.