Ethernet copper technology will challenge optical in data centers.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [September 12, 2008]

When I first read about Irvine, Calif.-based Solarflare Communications, in the article Solarflare Gets $26M for 10 GigE, I invited the company to send a speaker to ISPCON.

Solarflare is working on delivering 10 gigabit Ethernet connections over copper. This is exactly the sort of technology that independent ISPs need. It offers the same performance at a lower cost. It's just out of the lab, with just a few products on the market under familiar brand names (like Dell) that have been shipping since May of 2008.

Bruce Tolley, vice president of marketing at Solarflare, says it's a fabless semiconductor company. Solarflare participated in the creation of the 10 Gig E copper standard ("overall, we have about 100 patents covering our controller and [PHY] chip").

"TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. ) in Taiwan is our fab," says Tolley.

Making the product
Once the technology was ready, Solarflare needed to design a product and sell it. The company knew there would be demand.

Tolley says that 10 Gig optical had been shipping since 2001—something he know because he oversaw the product launch himself.

Since 10 Gigabit copper uses already installed Ethernet cabling, it is cheaper than the optical option, which requires new cabling.

Solarflare does not put its name on the products that reach the market. Instead, so-called OEMs incorporate Solarflare's chips into their products to sell a box to you. Solarflare also makes controller chips which are used to build NIC cards which attach servers to the network

Solarflare has designed its products to work at slower speeds as well, such as gigbait Ethernet and even 100 Mbps Ethernet. The idea is that the products should fit easily in existing networks. The technology delivers at distances of up to 50 feet or about 300 feet, depending on the exact version used, and is therefore suited to data center networks. Don't expect to see it in the last mile any time soon.

Solarflare is building its relationships with Taiwanese manufacturers. Tolley notes, "other than Cisco, most equipment sold today is designed and built in Taiwan, and Taiwanese companies often work with a contract manufacturer in mainland China."

Cost benefits
Once you install the technology, Tolley says, there are several obvious cost benefits. "The cabling is cheaper than optical fiber. Cat 6 cabling has been shipping since 1999, and about 50 to 60 percent of the installed base is already Cat 6," he notes. "In addition, most networks have people who know how to configure RJ-45 and twisted pair cable, but optic requires special installers."

The network management tools, such as IP Tools from Cisco or HP Server, work the same too.

Tolley says the company has built extra intelligence into its products. After all, this is all based on an open standard. He says that one good example of the intelligence built into its controller has to do with queuing and flow control when working with virtualization software, VMWare, Microsoft, and Xen (now part of Citrix).

Tolley says that companies have built so-called 10 Gbps controllers in the past, but that they delivered a much lower true line rate. "We are able to deliver the actual 10 Gbps line rate under multiple application scenarios."

—End