10GBASE-T Switch Reference Design - Fulcrum and Solarflare

Fulcrum and Solarflare announced the collaboration to create a new high density and cost-effective 10GBASE-T switch reference design. The new platform, with code name San Marino, combines Solarflare's 10Xpress 10GBASE-T physical layer PHY technology with Fulcrum's FocalPoint FM2224 24-port , low-latency Ethernet switch chip to create a 1U-high switch that features 20 10GBASE-T ports and four XFPs.

The fully functional platform enables OEMs to rapidly enter the market with price-competitive solutions that lead the market in performance, integration, latency and 10GBASE-T standards compliance (100-meter reach over Category 6a or 7 cable). Switching system industry leader SMC Networks will be the first OEM customer to take San Marino to market.

Bruce Tolley, Solarflare, said:

…The 10G switching market has experienced modest growth and addressed limited applications because it has been limited to low-density, expensive 10G switches..

This high-density 10GBASE-T solution will allow our switch OEM customers to lower switch port prices by 50% and enable IT managers to build 10G inter-switch and switch-to-server links over the installed copper cabling infrastructure. San Marino with its density and support for plug and play RJ-45 copper will drive the expansion of the Ethernet market…

Fulcrum's FocalPoint, a breakthrough 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch chip family, features the industry's highest density and performance, lowest latency, and greatest power efficiency for 10-Gigabit Ethernet switching. The flagship FM2224 chip features 24 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports, which are all independently configurable for operation at standard line rates from 10Mbps to 10Gbps.

Solarflare's 10Xpress is the industry's first standards-compliant 10GBASE-T PHY chip, demonstrating distances over 100 meters of Category 6A link in worst-case conditions as mandated by IEEE 802.3an-2006. 10Xpress enables 10-Gigabit connectivity via twisted pair copper — a cost-effective alternative to expensive fiber infrastructures — while providing the familiar ease-of-use, which has helped copper fuel past Ethernet expansions. 10Xpress's tested, robust performance, along with full reference design support, allows it to be integrated with existing 10Gbps Ethernet designs for minimal bring-up time.

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Solarflare and Teranetics demonstrated interoperability between their independent 10GBASE-T PHY implementations during the UNH IOL (University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab)  testing using different systems at either end of the link. The tests were repeated multiple times over a 55-meter, 2-connector topology of Category 6 cabling to show support for legacy installed cabling. A network throughput and latency benchmark (Netperf) showed that the link sustained a throughput of 10Gbps throughout the testing.

Bruce Tolley, Solarflare Communications, said:

The Ethernet community has maintained a historic commitment to solid engineering standards that enable the industry to build interoperable products…

Not only do customers demand standards compliance and interoperability, but the IEEE 802.3 standards enable us to create an ecosystem, drive down costs, and create economies of scale. This proof of 10GBASE-T interoperability sends a strong message to customers that the time is now to design in 10GBASE-T…

The IEEE 802.3an Standard for 10GBASE-T was ratified in June of 2006. In the Ethernet industry, whenever there is a new speed generation of Ethernet, implementers, systems vendors, and final end customers require interoperability to have confidence that the standard has fulfilled its promise of enabling a communications technology supported by multiple vendors.

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Fulcrum also introduced its ControlPoint  Software Suite, a family of integrated development and test tools and Ethernet bridging, switching, and management software modules that enable equipment providers to rapidly deliver high-performance networking and embedded switch systems with advanced functionality based on Fulcrum’s market-leading FocalPoint family of switch chips.

As equipment providers face an increasingly long list of feature requirements from their customers, their ability to add security, switching, and management features must be balanced against getting their products to market quickly in order to recognize revenue. The ControlPoint suite allows providers to deliver these required features faster, giving them a competitive advantage. The comprehensive ControlPoint suite consists of three software components: dynamic stacks, a software development kit (SDK), and development tools.

The SDK included in the ControlPoint suite comprises TestPoint, Fulcrum’s proprietary configuration scripting tool for  automating production test and static configuration of FocalPoint devices in embedded applications; an intelligent application programming interface (API), which provides a sophisticated abstraction layer for interfacing the FocalPoint devices to the NextHop software and other applications; drivers for specific FocalPoint devices and other related devices and hardware platforms.

The ControlPoint suite also includes ViewPoint, Fulcrum’s graphical, web-based FocalPoint register viewer that enables simple and intuitive viewing of chip status during software development, testing, and debug; an Embedded Linux Development Kit (ELDK) for the open Linux 2.6 kernel and the related compiler, debugger development environment; and boot code for a variety of embedded processor families that can be used as the basis for customer-developed system boot code.

ControlPoint’s dynamic stack module leverages the Unified Networking Software (UNS) from NextHop Technologies, a  leading developer of switching and routing protocol software. The module builds upon the UNS framework to add Fulcrum’s own powerful software extensions, which expose unique chip capabilities for a variety of vertical applications, such as topology solvers for datacenter scaling, and congestion management extensions for backplane applications in telecom systems.

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About Solarflare Communications, Inc.
Solarflare Communications Inc. is a leading silicon vendor delivering Ethernet products that enable the rapid adoption of 10 Gigabit for data center and enterprise networks. Solarflare was the first company to demonstrate and sample to customers a 10GBASE-T PHY reaching 100 meters over a Category 6A link. The company's high-performance Ethernet solutions will lower the cost of 10 Gigabit networking for data center and enterprise customers. The privately held company is headquartered in Irvine, California with a development center in Cambridge, UK.

About Fulcrum Microsystems
Fulcrum Microsystems Inc is a fabless semiconductor company focused on developing interconnect switch chips for next generation board and system designs. The company's devices change the paradigm for interconnects, offering low latency, fine-grained flow control, and high throughput, which combine to simplify the board design and to build in more flexibility and higher performance.

10GBASE-T switch reference design is showcased at Interop Las Vegas in Solarflare Communications' booth #1774.

Source: Fulcrum Microsystems - 10GBASE-T Switch Reference Design