Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise announced on Wednesday the availability of a new switch designed to speed up data center or compact core deployments via automation and unified management capabilities.

The new Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6900-X72 is a high-density 10- and 40-Gb/s switch that is embedded with the company’s Intelligent Fabric technology. The fabric helps automate IT operations as well as simplify physical-to-virtual internetworking.

The fabric enables IT personnel to automate network configuration within minutes of connecting the cables to a system, according to Alcatel-Lucent. The Intelligent Fabric technology is supported across both the data center and campus network architectures, which Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise says gives businesses a uniform approach to network infrastructure needs.

The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 is the latest addition to the company’s OmniSwitch 6900 family, all of which utilize the fabric technology.

Additionally, VXLAN technology in the 6900 family lets IT departments interconnect application infrastructure into both physical and virtual environments.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise shipped several dozen units of the new switch in the third quarter, which included one shipment to an existing customer in the higher-education sector on the west coast.