Description
WD OpenFlex F3200 Series Fabric Device is a modular, open-disaggregated fabric building block designed for modern data centers that want to decouple compute, storage, and networking while preserving cohesive management and policy-driven automation. Engineered for explosive data growth and diverse workloads, the F3200 Series enables flexible scale, simplified operations, and improved resource utilization. As a foundational component in open architectures, it supports rapid provisioning, accelerates time-to-value, and helps reduce total cost of ownership. Built on WD’s reliability and efficiency principles, this fabric device is suitable for everything from core data centers to edge environments, delivering performance without compromising security or manageability. This description blends the core attributes associated with OpenFlex—modularity, open standards, composability, scalable growth, and simplified procurement—to help you deploy a future-proof data fabric that aligns with modern IT workflows and business outcomes. Whether you’re modernizing legacy infrastructure or architecting a new disaggregated platform, the WD OpenFlex F3200 Series Fabric Device is designed to fit, scale, and perform with confidence.
- Modular, open-disaggregated architecture: The F3200 Series is designed as a scalable building block within an open fabric that separates compute, storage, and networking resources. This disaggregation enables independent lifecycle updates, flexible topologies, and rapid reconfiguration to adapt to changing workloads, reducing maintenance windows and extending hardware lifecycles. By decoupling components, you can upgrade one domain without disrupting others, fostering interoperability across a broad ecosystem of accelerators, storage protocols, and network fabrics.
- Composable, scalable fabric for modern workloads: The OpenFlex philosophy embraces a on-demand resource pool that can be allocated to workloads as needed. Whether you’re running data-intensive analytics, AI inference, or latency-sensitive applications, the F3200 Series provides a scalable platform that grows with your data footprint. Storage and compute can be pooled and allocated via software-defined policies, enabling higher utilization, reduced idle capacity, and faster time-to-market for new services. This scalability supports both scale-out growth and elegant down-sizing for ongoing cost optimization.
- Policy-driven management and automation: A centralized management model orchestrates policy-driven automation across the fabric. With centralized control, administrators can enforce consistent governance, automation, and compliance, reducing manual intervention and accelerating provisioning. This approach minimizes risk, improves predictability, and enables repeatable deployment patterns across diverse environments—from data centers to edge locations.
- High-performance storage and networking integration: The OpenFlex F3200 Series delivers robust storage capabilities alongside high-throughput networking. In this configuration, you benefit from 2 TB of integrated storage and dual high-speed network interfaces for rapid data movement across the fabric. The PCIe-based architecture supports fast data paths to accelerate bandwidth-hungry workloads while maintaining low latency, which is essential for analytics, database operations, and AI pipelines.
- Flexible deployment across core and edge environments: Designed for a broad range of deployment scenarios, the F3200 Series supports both centralized data centers and distributed edge locations. Its open architecture and modular design enable you to tailor fabric resources to exact workload requirements, simplifying procurement and enabling faster expansion as business needs evolve.
Technical Details of WD OpenFlex F3200 Series Fabric Device
- Storage Capacity: 2 TB
- Networking: 2 × 50 GbE ports for high-speed interconnects and data movement across the fabric
- PCIe-based Architecture: PCIe-based design to support fast data paths and seamless integration with compute and storage resources
- Open-Architecture & Modularity: Modular fabric device intended to operate within an open disaggregated infrastructure
- Management Model: Centralized, policy-driven management and automation for provisioning, monitoring, and lifecycle operations
- Interoperability: Built to integrate with a broad ecosystem of accelerators, storage protocols, and network fabrics in open-standard environments
- Deployment Reach: Suitable for data center core, private cloud, and edge deployments, with scalable growth to meet evolving workloads
How to install WD OpenFlex F3200 Series Fabric Device
- Prepare the environment: Ensure sufficient power, cooling, and rack space in your data center or edge location. Confirm compatibility with your open fabric controller and management software. Have your network topology planned, including where the 2 × 50 GbE connections will terminate and how storage and compute resources will be allocated.
- Physically install the device: Rack-mount the F3200 Series Fabric Device in an appropriate chassis, connect power, and verify cable routing to minimize interference. Attach the two 50 GbE network links to the designated fabric network as defined in your topology.
- Power up and access the management interface: Power on the device and access the dedicated management port or console. Authenticate using the prescribed credentials and ensure initial hardware status indicators are healthy.
- Adopt into the open fabric and apply policies: Use the OpenFlex management software or central fabric controller to discover and adopt the F3200 device. Apply your predefined policy-driven configurations to provisioning, security, QoS, and storage policies. Ensure proper firmware levels and software compatibility with the rest of your fabric.
- Provision resources and validate: Through the management console, allocate compute, storage, and networking resources according to your workloads. Run end-to-end tests to verify data paths, latency, and throughput. Monitor health and performance from the centralized dashboard to ensure ongoing reliability and compliance with your operational goals.
Frequently asked questions
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Q: What is the WD OpenFlex F3200 Series Fabric Device?
A: It is a modular, open-disaggregated fabric block designed to decouple compute, storage, and networking within modern data centers. It emphasizes policy-driven automation, scalable growth, and interoperability to enable a future-proof disaggregated data fabric.
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Q: What are the core benefits of this OpenFlex fabric device?
A: Core benefits include faster deployment, flexible scaling, reduced vendor lock-in, improved resource utilization, centralized management, and the ability to tailor fabric resources to changing workloads via software-defined policies.
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Q: What are the key specifications I should know?
A: The device offers 2 TB of storage and 2 × 50 GbE networking. It uses a PCIe-based architecture to enable high-throughput data paths and space for future expansion within an open, modular fabric.
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Q: Where can I deploy the F3200?
A: It is designed for a broad range of environments—from core data centers to private clouds and edge deployments—where openness, composability, and automation can deliver tangible benefits.
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Q: How do I get support or additional resources?
A: Refer to WD OpenFlex documentation and your authorized WD support channels for implementation guidance, compatibility queries, and ongoing maintenance.
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Q: What makes the OpenFlex approach different from traditional converged hardware?
A: OpenFlex emphasizes modularity, open standards, and composable resources that can be allocated on demand. This contrasts with rigid, fixed allocations in traditional stacks, enabling faster innovation, easier capacity planning, and reduced total cost of ownership.
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