August 4, 2008 -- Solarflare Communications, a provider of standards-compliant 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) silicon, announced that its next-generation 10GBASE-T PHY chip is now sampling to Tier 1 switch and server original equipment and design manufacturers. Running at under 6.0 watts, the 10Xpress SFT9001 is billed as a 65-nm transceiver chip for 10 Gigabit Ethernet over copper platforms, enabling products for data centers and enterprises to easily upgrade to standards-based 10 Gigabit Ethernet networking.
Solarflare's standards-compliant 10GBASE-T PHY supports 100 meter reach over copper Ethernet cabling and features triple speed auto-negotiation for 10GBASE-T, 1000BASE-T and 100BASE-TX infrastructure. With this technology, data centers and enterprises may upgrade to 10-GbE for increased bandwidth without conducting a full network overhaul.
Other key features of the PHY include scaling from 6 watts down to 100s of milliwatts and Wake-on-LAN support, both critical for network equipment power conservation. In addition, Solarflare's PHY provides 10GBASE-T cable diagnostics capability to help ease deployment and reduce network downtime by assessing line characteristics.
"10GBASE-T solutions that dramatically reduce 10-GbE port prices while achieving lower power consumption can boost 10-GbE mass adoption within the data center," maintains Aileen Arcilla, senior analyst at IDC. "Low power silicon solutions will allow the industry to meet the demand for high-density switch designs while power saving modes, such as Wake-on-LAN, are a pre-requisite for data centers needing to focus on energy efficiency."
Products based on Solarflare's 10GBASE-T technology are currently available from Dell, Ixia and SMC Networks.
"There is a tremendous demand for high-performing, low-power networking technology from data centers and IT managers," concludes Bruce Tolley, vice president of marketing for Solarflare. "The sampling of Solarflare's next-generation PHY marks the beginning of the next wave of energy efficient 10GBASE-T transceiver silicon solutions and provides our customers with the technology that will enable the widespread deployment of 10-GbE networks."
On the Web:
www.solarflare.com
www.idc.com
