Solarflare Communications and Its Partners Showcase Complete Ecosystem of 10GBASE-T Standards-Compliant Products at Interop 2007: NICs, Switches, and Layer 1 Through Layer 4/7 Test Equipment

LAS VEGAS, INTEROP, May 21  /PRNewswire/ -- Solarflare(R) Communications, a leading provider of high-performance Ethernet silicon, today announced that it is demonstrating a complete ecosystem of 10GBASE-T products with its partners at the Interop Exposition, May 22-24, as follows:
  * New 24-port 10GBASE-T switch reference design, code named San Marino.    Developed in partnership with Fulcrum(R) Microsystems, this is the    industry's first dense 10GBASE-T reference design.  At 20 ports of    10GBASE-T and 4 optical 10G ports in 1 RU of rack space, the switch is    the highest density, most cost-effective 10G Ethernet switch solution on    the market today. -- Solarflare booth #1774  * Solarstorm(TM) 10GBASE-T server adapters showcasing 100-meter reach    under a worst case Category 6A 4 connector 6 around 1 link built with    SYSTIMAX GigaSPEED(R) X10D UTP cabling.  This demonstration shows near    line rate performance, the robustness of Solarflare's 10GBASE-T PHYs,    its compliance with the 10GBASE-T Standard, and the maturity of    Solarstorm(TM) device drivers. -- Solarflare booth # 1774  * Agilent(R) Technologies Wirescope Pro and SwiftAXT alien cross talk    stimulators to qualify new and legacy cabling according to TIA/EIA TSB    155 for 10GBASE-T operation. -- Solarflare booth # 1774  * The Solarflare booth's Category 6A structured cabling plant was designed    by Anixter, the world's leading distributor of communications products.    -- Solarflare booth # 1774  * A technology demonstration of Foundry Networks FastIron LS624 with    10GBASE-T uplink. -- Solarflare booth # 1774  * Ixia's new 10GBASE-T Adapter combined with the 10GE LAN Services Module    (LSM) enables Layer 2 though 4 performance testing of 10GBASE-T links.    -- Solarflare booth # 1774. See also IXIA Booth #1024.  * A technology demonstration of SMC Network's 20-port 10GBASE-T switch and    10GBASE-T network interface cards. -- Solarflare booth # 1774  * Category 6A Cabling plant provided by SYSTIMAX, the world's leading    manufacturer of structured cabling products. -- Solarflare booth # 1774  * Solarstorm(TM) 10GBASE-T server adapters showing 100-meter reach over a    worst case link. -- Commscope/SYSTIMAX booth # 749  * Solarflare products can also be seen in the Ethernet Alliance booth    where 10GBASE-T interoperability will be demonstrated. -- Ethernet    Alliance booth #2265
"Our demonstrations with industry partners at Interop clearly show that 10 Gigabit Ethernet on twisted-pair copper is a reality today," said Bruce Tolley, vice president of marketing at Solarflare.  "The 10GBASE-T ecosystem is ready for IT managers to deploy.  From cabling to test equipment, to NICs and switches, the products are on the market and ready for IT managers to easily install in enterprise and data center networks to provide the increased performance they need at low cost.  We applaud our partners for working with us to offer 100-meter reach standards-compliant 10GBASE-T solutions."
Solarflare is the only company sampling a 100-meter, standards-compliant 10GBASE-T PHY.  The IEEE 802.3an standard requires that all PHYs claiming compliance support 100-meter reach on Category 6A cabling.  "Anixter recommends Category 6A cabling infrastructure for data center applications, and is the only distributor that independently tests 6A cabling in the industry," stated Andy Jimenez, vice president of technology at Anixter, the world's leading distributor of communications products.  "Additionally, both the international and US standards (ISO 11801 and TIA/EIA 568-B) and the data center standard (TIA/EIA 942) require 100-meter reach utilizing four connector cabling topologies," Jimenez commented.
About San Marino
Fulcrum and Solarflare collaborated on a new 10GBASE-T switch reference design that is one of the highest density, most cost-effective 10G Ethernet switches on the market today.  Code named "San Marino," the new platform combines Solarflare's 10Xpress(TM) 10GBASE-T physical layer PHY technology with Fulcrum's FocalPoint FM2224 24-port, low-latency Ethernet switch chip to create a 1U-high switch that features 20 10GBASE-T ports and four XFPs.  The fully functional platform enables OEMs to rapidly enter the market with price-competitive solutions that lead the market in performance, price per port, integration, latency and 10GBASE-T standards compliance (100-meter reach over Category 6A or 7 cable).
About The Ethernet Alliance Demonstration
Solarflare is participating in the 10GBASE-T interoperability demonstration in the Ethernet Alliance booth where two independent PHY implementations are interoperating as well as multiple 10GBASE-T server adapter, switch, and test equipment products.  Solarflare-powered products from Ixia, SMC Networks and Fulcrum Microsystems are interoperating in a data center network topology.
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