White paper: Using native 40-GbE

A new technical white paper from Cisco discusses the advantages the IEEE 802.3ba standard offers over simple link aggregation, and explains how native 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40-GbE) based on IEEE 802.3ba works.

The increasing need for high-bandwidth data transfer rates in the data center challenges organizations to increase the available bandwidth to both the servers and the backplane, notes the paper's introduction.

"One approach has been to use link aggregation and Port Channels consisting of multiple 10-Gbps links," writes Cisco. However, the company points out that that approach "may not achieve the desired throughput because of hashing mechanism imbalances and the need to support higher bandwidth flows."

The solution is faster links using native 40 Gigabit Ethernet, contends the company.

"The IEEE 802.3ba task force was formed to develop a 40 Gigabit Ethernet standard to support transmission transfer rates of 40 Gbps," adds the paper. "The standard was ratified in June 2010. Technology that meets this standard uses four lanes of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, as with link aggregation, but it can support true 40-Gbps flows, unlike link aggregation."

View/Download the white paper.