Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Cisco announces 10GBase-T switches

Cisco Systems is now in the 10GBase-T business. On Monday, Februray 8, the switching-technology market leader joined server-technology provider Intel in announcing support for the twisted-pair flavor of 10-Gbit Ethernet within Cisco's Catalyst switch line. In a blog post, Cisco's Omar Sultan said the company will incorporate 10GBase-T into the Nexus product line next. Within that blog post is a video with demonstrations of the new 10GBase-T gear; that video was taken at Cisco Live Barcelona 2010, which took place January 25-28.

Shortly after the announcement, 10GBase-T PHY developer Aquantia announced it has entered full volume production of the AQ 1002, its flagship 10GBase-T PHY offering.

Executives from Cisco, Intel, and Panduit address and promote the 10GBase-T ecosystem in a video on Cisco's web site. In the video Jack Tison, Panduit's vice president of technology, discusses Category 6A cabling and its ability to support 10GBase-T. Also in that video, VP and general manager of Intel's LAN access division Tom Swinford recognizes that cost, power, and availability have hindered 10GBase-T's adoption to this point. He explains that all three have been, and continue to be, addressed.

We previously covered the optimism of some 10GBase-T technology providers that these barriers were steadily coming down. It looks like market giants Cisco and Intel believe they have come down far enough to make 10GBase-T products marketable.

Or, perhaps, these two companies announcing their support for the technology is itself the elimination of a significant barrier.

1 comment:

alexwe said...

Do you think Cisco and Intel using Aquantia 10GBase-T PHY solution?