FastIron devices and Campus Fabric communication
An ICX 7650 stack or standalone serves as the control bridge (CB) for attached ICX 7450, ICX 7250, or ICX 7150 devices configured as port extender (PE) units. The PE units provide connectivity to PCs, laptops, IP phones, and other access devices.
The CB communicates with the attached PE units downstream using protocols defined in the IEEE 802.1BR standards. PE units in the extended topology tag packets from attached user devices and send the packets upstream to the CB for switching and network management.
The simplified network topology with centralized control and lower-cost PE devices expands capacity by hundreds of additional access ports.