Ixia Launches The 10GBASE-T Ethernet Test Capability
Calabasas, CA - Ixia recently announced the first L2-7 tester with a 10GBASE-T Ethernet interface capable of testing 100 meter links. The recently approved IEEE 802.3an-2006 for 10GBASE-T is a standard to provide 10 Gigabit/second connections over conventional unshielded or shielded twisted pair cables. The ability to use low cost copper cabling is expected to trigger wide-spread adoption of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in enterprises and eventually SMBs.
Ixia's new 10GBASE-T Adapter combined with the 10GE LAN Services Module (LSM) enables performance, scalability, and conformance testing of Layer 2-3 routing protocols with IxNetwork and high performance Layer 4-7 testing with IxLoad for products that are looking to conform to the new standard. The 10GBASE-T adapter features Solarflare Communications 10Xpress SFX7000 10GBASE-T PHY, a 100-meter reach, standards-compliant transceiver that supports installed and new copper cabling infrastructures.
"10GBASE-T presents an inflection point. The Ixia 10GBASE-T module is a critical and necessary first step in the industry's ability to offer cost-effective 10GbE switches and NICs to customers and accelerate the 10GbE market," said Bruce Tolley, vice president of marketing at Solarflare Communications. "Ixia's test kit has been vital to our product development effort. All of the switch and server OEMs need standards-complaint test gear now for Layer 2/4 testing of their 10GBASE-T ports and NICs to meet their time to market requirements."
The new module provides network equipment vendors with the ability to ensure their new 10GBASE-T Ethernet products conform to the new standard as well as meet the requisite performance and scalability requirements. Equipment vendors can use real-world traffic generated by the 10GE LSM with the 10GBASE-T adapter to verify the quality of the 10GBASE-T interface. As products incorporating the new standard are rolled out, enterprises, government agencies and service providers will use the 10 GBASE-T Ethernet load module to ensure performance and interoperability prior to deployment of this new technology.
"As with any new technology, testing plays a key role in bridging the gap between its promise and its reality," said Victor Alston, senior vice president of product development at Ixia. "Ixia has been the established leader in the growth of Ethernet as a cost effective solution to increase productivity and to deliver new services. With the first testing capability for the new 10GBASE-T Ethernet transport standard, we look forward to helping foster the growth of this exciting technology."
The new 10GBASE-T Ethernet Adapter combined with 10GE LSM, provides exceptional performance and flexibility for testing routers, switches, broadband and wireless access devices, web servers, video servers, secure gateways, firewalls, and many other networking and application-aware devices that will use the new IEEE 802.3an-2006 standard. Each of the module's test ports supports wire-speed Layer 2-3 traffic generation and analysis, high performance routing/bridging protocol emulation, and high performance Layer 4-7 application traffic generation and subscriber emulation.
"The Ethernet Alliance's vision of becoming the industry voice for IEEE 802 Ethernet has become a success due to the support and commitment of members like Ixia," said Brad Booth, president, Ethernet Alliance. "As we celebrate our one-year anniversary at Interop Las Vegas, the Ethernet Alliance is proud to showcase the latest in IEEE 802 Ethernet technologies. Looking to the future, the Ethernet Alliance and its members look forward to continuing the advancement of Ethernet technologies."
SOURCE: Ixia