ACADEMIA

Small Tree Communications today announced support for the new Intel® PRO/10GbE SR Server Adapters for Mac OS X. These 10Gb Ethernet adapters coupled with Small Tree's driver software bring the fastest enterprise level networking ever available to the Mac and are fast enough to stream high definition digital video with bandwidth left to spare. The cards are targeted for high performance video, media, and file serving. To put this performance into perspective, 10Gb/sec is equivalent to 25 Firewire connections all running at their theoretical maximum bandwidth. Small Tree Communications is the first company to offer support for 10Gb Ethernet for Mac OS X. "The availability of 10Gb Ethernet is a major advancement for enterprise networking on the Mac," said Corky Seeber, Small Tree company President. "Combining our Apple networking expertise with Intel allowed us to make this industry leading product available to Mac users the same day it is available for Windows and Linux. Combined with the high performance Power Mac G5 and Mac OS X, 10Gb Ethernet shatters the gigabit barrier and provides the robust high bandwidth enterprise network solution that digital film and video editors as well as high performance server customers have been waiting for." "Mac OS X and our breakthrough server and storage solutions are increasingly being adopted in the enterprise," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "With Small Tree's high performance Ethernet Adapters, enterprise companies can benefit from expanded networking capabilities on the Mac while taking advantage of the reliability and blazing performance of Mac OS X, Xserve G5 and Xserve RAID." "We see the need for 10GbE networking products throughout data centers as well as high-end server applications, such as aggregating GbE desktop systems, medical imaging and graphic design," said Tom Swinford, general manager, Intel LAN Access Division. "With companies, such as Small Tree, creating custom drivers for the Intel® PRO/10GbE SR Server Adapters, Intel Networking products can support a wider variety of I/O intensive applications, such as image processing and video editing." The 10Gb Ethernet adapters are 133MHz, 64-bit capable PCI-X cards compatible with Power Mac G5, Xserve G4 and Xserve G5 running Mac OS 10.2.7 or later. The cards are interconnected using multimode optical fiber that can span distances up to 300 meters without repeaters. The cards with Small Tree's software work seamlessly with Mac OS X, and once installed, the adapters appear as another Ethernet interface to the computer and use standard TCP/IP protocols, ensuring that no application changes are required. This means, for example, that existing Final Cut Pro customers can upgrade to 10Gb Ethernet without changing their application software or work flow. 10Gb Ethernet can also be used in Storage Area Network (SAN) and in high performance computing solutions. Small Tree Communications was founded by a team of high performance networking and kernel designers who are committed to bringing enterprise class networking solutions to the Apple platform. With world class high performance computing experience, Small Tree Communications provides unique leading edge peripheral products to Apple servers enabling the Mac user to meet a wider range of application demands. In addition to 10Gb Ethernet, the company also offers multiport gigabit cards and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation software for the Mac. Pricing and additional information can be found on the company's web site at www.small-tree.com , by calling 866-STC-4MAC, or by sending email to info@small-tree.com.