Chips enable Ethernet over copper at 10Gbit/s

Ethernet product specialist uses advanced physical-layer and controller silicon to drive the introduction of 10Gbit/s networks over copper cables

SMC Networks is to build physical-layer (PHY) and controller silicon components from Solarflare Communications into its standards-based networking products.

Among the first SMC products to launch with Solarflare components will be a family of 10Gbit/s network interface cards, due out in the first half of this year.

These products will include SMC 10GBase-T switches based on Solarflare's 10Xpress PHY, SMC 10Gbit/s optical server adapters based on Solarflare's Solarstorm controller silicon, and SMC 10GBase-T server adapters based on both Solarstorm and 10Xpress.

These products will enable the economical adoption of high-performance 10Gbit/s infrastructures this year.

Suitable for use in data-centre, enterprise workgroup, 1Gbit/s switch aggregation and small backbone environments, 10GBase-T brings the performance benefits of 10Gbit/s networking, with the cost-savings inherent in copper-based networking.

Applications that drive the need for higher bandwidth include high-performance computing; Web 2.0 application support; multimedia - content creation and distribution; storage - converged fabrics using the iSCSI protocol and storage area networking; and server virtualisation - where multiple virtual machines sometimes with heterogeneous operating systems run in isolation on the same physical server.

Seamus Crehan, senior director of Ethernet Switching at the Dell'Oro Groupsays: "In our 5-year forecast report on 10Gbit/s Ethernet, we expect port shipments will increase from 300 thousand to almost 12 million in 2011".

"With the advent of 10GBase-T, we expect 10Gbit/s Ethernet to be a viable and cost-effective option for higher volume applications for enterprise and data-centre networks".

10Gbit/s Ethernet on twisted pair copper will more than halve the cost of 10Gbit/s links, by enabling higher port density, as well as transceivers that can follow a Moore's Law curve of cost reduction.

10GBase-T will also support the plug-and-play simplicity of RJ-45 interconnects and twisted pair copper cabling.

"SMC continues to demonstrate our commitment to 10Gbit/s networking through this new partnership with Solarflare, making ours the most comprehensive set of standards-based 10G networking products", says Tony Stramandinoli, Vice President of Marketing for SMC Networks.

"This partnership allows us to offer another alternative for 10Gbit/s, standards-based networking with a 10Gbit/s Ethernet over copper (10GBase-T) product line that will make it possible for more companies to make the move to 10Gbit/s in high-demand areas".

Solarflare delivers standards-compliant 100m 10GBase-T PHYs as well as low-power, high-performance 10Gbit/s Ethernet controllers, which operate at just 2.2W.

"Working together, SMC and Solarflare will deliver the standards-compliant products necessary to drive the adoption of 10Gbit/s Ethernet, not just at the physical layer, but all the way up the networking stack", says Russell Stern, President and Chief Executive Officer of Solarflare.

"This strategic partnership will accelerate application and OS performance through low cost and simple hardware and software solutions".

"It will enable the adoption of cost-effective, low-power, and efficient 10GBase-T infrastructures this year".

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