SANTA CLARA, Calif.,
July 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A
consortium of companies including Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET),
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG,
GOOGL), Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX), and Microsoft
Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the availability of a
specification optimized to allow data center networks to run over a
25 or 50 Gigabit per second (Gbps) Ethernet link protocol. This new
specification will enable the cost-efficient scaling of network
bandwidth delivered to server and storage endpoints in
next-generation cloud infrastructure, where workloads are expected
to surpass the capacity of 10 or 40 Gbps Ethernet links deployed
today.
The 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium was formed by the above
leading cloud networking technology providers for the purpose of
supporting an industry-standard, interoperable Ethernet
specification that boosts the performance and slashes the
interconnect cost per Gbps between the server Network Interface
Controller (NIC) and Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch. The specification
adopted by the Consortium prescribes a single-lane 25 Gbps Ethernet
and dual-lane 50 Gbps Ethernet link protocol, enabling up to 2.5X
higher performance per physical lane or twinax copper wire between
the rack endpoint and switch compared to current 10 Gbps and 40
Gbps Ethernet links. The new specification is being made available
royalty-free by the Consortium members to any data center ecosystem
vendor or consumer who joins the Consortium.
"The companies joining the 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium are
taking a major step forward in increasing the performance of data
center networks," said Anshul
Sadana, Senior Vice President, Customer Engineering, Arista
Networks. "With ever-increasing server performance and with the
uplinks from the leaf to the spine layer migrating to 100 Gbps in
the near future, it makes sense to increase the access speed from
10 Gbps to 25 and 50 Gbps."
By deploying 25 and 50 Gbps Ethernet in their networks, builders
of mega-scale data centers such as Microsoft expect to achieve
operational advantages, including reduced CapEx and OpEx. "The new
Ethernet speeds proposed by the Consortium give superior
flexibility in matching future workloads with network equipment and
cabling, with the option to 'scale-as-you-go,'" said Yousef Khalidi, Distinguished Engineer,
Microsoft. "In essence, the specification published by the 25
Gigabit Ethernet Consortium maximizes the radix and bandwidth
flexibility of the data center network while leveraging many of the
same fundamental technologies and behaviors already defined by the
IEEE 802.3 standard."
The companies' motivation for founding the Consortium is to
immediately set an industry standard definition of the 25 Gbps and
50 Gbps Ethernet physical layer (PHY) and media access control
layer (MAC) behavior, including virtual lane alignment,
autonegotiation, and forward error correction characteristics, to
enable the swift rollout of 25 Gbps and 50 Gbps Ethernet compliant
implementations over the next 12 to 18 months through the
participation of multiple semiconductor, networking equipment and
interconnect vendors in the Consortium.
Open Consortium and Specification
The 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium is open to membership from
any ecosystem company or organization. To become a member of the 25
Gigabit Ethernet Consortium, visit http://www.25GEthernet.org.
Additional Quotes
"Broadcom has long been a strong proponent and contributor of
new Ethernet standards that have served the advancement of data
center and cloud-scale networks," said Rochan Sankar, Product Marketing Director,
Infrastructure and Networking Group, Broadcom. "We believe that 25
and 50 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) serves a focused market requirement
for next-generation, performance and cost optimized server- and
storage-to-switch interconnects and are proud to be a key
contributor to the Consortium's 25 and 50 GbE specification."
"The growth in data creation and usage mandates faster and more
efficient interconnect technologies," said Michael Kagan, Chief Technology Officer,
Mellanox Technologies. "Mellanox provides a wide variety of
interconnect solutions ranging from 10 to 100 Gbps, and endorses
open industry collaboration to enable further interconnect
flexibility and speeds."
Media Contacts
Arista Networks
Amanda
Jaramillo
Corporate Communications
408-547-5798
amanda@arista.com
Broadcom Corporation
Russell
Castronovo
Director, Public Relations
408-922-3228
russ.castrononovo@broadcom.com
Mellanox Technologies
Kevin
Deierling
Vice President, Marketing
408-916-0002
kevind.@mellanox.com
Microsoft Corporation
Maris
McEdward
Manager, Public Relations
425-538-6834
marimc@microsoft.com
SOURCE 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium