Extreme Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR) is announcing a really big switch on Tuesday, posing the question: Instead of working so hard to make the network look like one big switch, why not just offer one really big switch?

Extreme's new BlackDiamond X8, fitting in one-third of a 7-foot rack, supports 768 10Gbit/s ports or 192 40Gbit/s ports. It can handle 1.28 Tbit/s in each of eight slots and has a latency of less than 3 microseconds port-to-port, the company claims.

Extreme is also announcing the Summit X670 top-of-rack switch, which supports 48 10Gbit/s ports with four 40Gbit/s uplink ports. A second version has 64 10Gbit/s ports and omits the uplinks.