MANUFACTURING

Force10 Networks has congratulated the IEEE and its Task Force for ratifying its P802.3ba standard for 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The ratification sets a needed standard as dynamic data center conditions necessitate aggregating more traffic at 40 GbE and 100 GbE speeds.

Employees of Force10 Networks played an important role to help begin the standard ratification process by demonstrating how, through a wide variety of Ethernet use cases, their customers believed there was a clear need for higher Ethernet speeds.

“We commend the IEEE for their efforts as the standardization of 40 and 100 GbE is a key step, from a bandwidth perspective, toward converging storage, compute and network resources on to Ethernet technology,” says Henry Wasik, president and CEO, Force10 Networks. “The standard is a necessary benchmark and an important step from which customers can build reliable, low-latency solutions capable of handling network traffic well into the future.”

Leverage the Standard to Drive Network Simplicity, Greater Performance

The ratification of 40 GbE and 100 GbE is expected to help drive initiatives by data center managers and service providers to simplify their respective networks. Going forward, even as they task their network to perform greater, they want fewer network layers to manage and fewer uplinks required in the network since consolidated I/O will perform much better with increments of 40 GbE. These configurations can migrate from 4 x 10G uplinks and move to 2 x 40 GbE, doubling bandwidth while cutting port count by 50%.

To help its data center customers to consolidate and simplify network layers, Force10 is currently preparing to deliver end-to-end, edge-to-core 40 GbE switch/router solutions. Initially, Force10 plans to incorporate 40 GbE into a 10 GbE top-of-rack access switch for converging Fibre Channel and Ethernet fabrics. The Force10 E-Series™ core switch/router is 40/100 GbE-ready today, and its C-Series™ of resilient, chassis-based switches are 40 GbE-ready.

New Bandwidth Standards and Intelligence to Drive Next-Generation Data Center Networks

During the next few years, as more vendors deliver 100 GbE solutions and the price enables broader acceptance, having a complete Ethernet solution that leverages network automation, virtualization and convergence will strike the balance between optimized data center network performance and efficiency. This will provide a basis for delivering advanced services designed to meet the specific challenges of next-generation data centers, enterprises and service providers.

“Today’s standard ratification reaffirms and re-energizes our commitment to Ethernet as the de facto network technology, providing economic advantages that will continue as complexities are minimized and more intelligence and automation are moved into the network,” says Steve Garrison, vice president, marketing, Force10 Networks. “Our research and development team is focused on continuing to lead the industry by providing new capabilities for the dynamic data center with solutions that are optimized for 40 and 100 GbE technologies.”