SCIENCE

As member organizations participating in the Ethernet Alliance booth, CommScope and Cisco recently showcased the industry's first-ever public demonstration of interoperability between 10, 40 and 100 gigabits per second (Gb/s) higher speed Ethernet (HSE) sub-systems at last month's Supercomputing 2010 (SC10) in New Orleans, La.

At the live demonstration, Cisco's industry-leading Catalyst 6500 series switch's 40 Gb/s technology was combined with CommScope's SYSTIMAX LazrSPEED 550 and LazrSPEED 300 multimode fiber cables to publicly demonstrate the readiness of the HSE ecosystem proven at the Ethernet Alliance's groundbreaking 40 and 100 Gb/s Plugfest event in September.

"Our participation in interoperability testing events and public demonstrations with the Ethernet Alliance indicates CommScope's shared commitment to advancing the evolution of HSE technologies and reliable connectivity in datacenter environments," said George Brooks, vice president, Data Center business unit, CommScope. "With increasing migration to 10, 40 and 100 Gb/s networks to support high-speed applications, maximizing datacenter flexibility means maintaining reliable, high-performance connections over longer distances. By taking part in the live demonstration at Supercomputing 2010, we were able to show our customers that CommScope's full portfolio of fiber solutions not only go the distance to support 10, 40 and 100 Gb/s Ethernet applications, but also interoperate smoothly with multiple vendor components to deliver connectivity as networks evolve."

Including CommScope and Cisco, 19 Ethernet Alliance member organizations attended Supercomputing 2010 to repeat and expand on the success of the Plugfest with a live interoperability demonstration of 40 and 100 Gb/s Ethernet technologies. During the initial Plugfest testing event, CommScope's SYSTIMAX LazrSPEED fiber optic cabling infrastructure exceeded IEEE Std 802.3ba-2010 for multimode fiber cable for the specified maximum length and successfully interoperated with all other vendor components during the cable and transceiver tests. Additionally, CommScope exceeded its own guaranteed 170-meter support for 40 and 100 Gb/s Ethernet.

"Based on published conclusions from the tests conducted by the Ethernet Alliance, the technology for real-world deployment of HSE is available, and CIOs and IT managers must now consider how to prepare their networks for what comes next. At Cisco, we're committed to working closely with industry leaders to achieve that goal," said Kumar Srikantan, vice president of marketing, Cloud Switching Systems Technology Group, Cisco. "With proven interoperability, Cisco's network infrastructure components work together with CommScope's fiber solutions to provide the ideal migration path for adopting high-bandwidth demanding applications in networks."

Server virtualization, cloud computing and fabric consolidation within datacenters present opportunities for cost and operational efficiencies, but require robust network infrastructure changes. A recent Ethernet Alliance whitepaper, co-authored by Cisco and CommScope, addresses the impending transition to 40 Gb/s, how it will change network architecture and what IT managers can do now to facilitate the adoption of these high-bandwidth applications into their datacenters.