Teak Technologies Previews World's First 10-Gb Congestion-Free Ethernet Switching Solution for IBM BladeCenter
Teak Technologies Previews World's First 10-Gb Congestion-Free Ethernet Switching Solution for IBM BladeCenter
May. 1, 2007 01:00 PM
ST. LOUIS, MO -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/01/07 -- Blade.org founding member, Teak Technologies,
previewed its pioneering 10-Gb Congestion-Free Ethernet switching solution,
the I3000, for the IBM BladeCenter platform at the IBM PartnerWorld 2007
event here today.
Targeted at the innovative IT manager who is already considering the merit
of data center simplification through adoption of 10-GbE in the
BladeCenter, the I3000 offers a compelling alternative that combines
best-in-class low latency switching with up to 16x price/performance
advantage over comparable 10-GbE solutions.
The I3000 is the first in a series of a new category of scalable
Congestion-Free Ethernet switching solutions for the New Data Center. These
solutions solve the core problem of network congestion spread associated
with state-of-art Ethernet switches used in short-haul data center
networks.
"Best-effort Ethernet is reactive. Ethernet switches drop packets to signal
congestion symptomatically. Packet drops cause TCP timeouts, which can
reduce system performance significantly. A single hotspot link can spread
congestion network-wide," said Guenter Roeck, CTO at Teak Technologies.
"What is needed are highly responsive flow-based Layer-2 mechanisms that
leave all other layers of the protocol stack intact, yet are able to create
a multi-hop switching environment that proactively avoids congestion and
responds efficiently when congestion does occur on an instantaneous basis."
"We use a Collaborative Ethernet framework to guide our vision for the New
Data Center," said Sanjay Dua, Chief Marketing Officer at Teak
Technologies. "In this framework, Ethernet switches no longer perform in
isolated islands, but collaborate proactively with all virtualized compute
and storage I/O end-points to maximize application availability and
experience."
"Data centers will begin to see more of a coming together of the networking
and compute layers," said Zeus Kerravala, Senior Vice President, Enterprise
Research at the Yankee Group. "10-Gigabit Ethernet can become the dominant
data center fabric if it can challenge Infiniband's low latency and Fiber
Channel's deterministic block-level storage connectivity all while
maximizing bandwidth asset utilization. Companies that address these core
issues will enjoy a rapidly expanding market."
Teak Technologies' portfolio of 10-Gb Congestion-Free Ethernet switching
solutions are optimized for high-performance connectivity in the data
center access layer and target mission critical applications that are
sensitive to packet loss, latency, and availability. Some applications that
fall into this category include:
-- Enterprise-class block-level storage connectivity
-- High definition mixed-media content retrieval, caching, and transport
in IP-TV and cable applications
-- High performance compute and database clusters.
Rule-Changing Switching Performance and Economics
The I3000 increases load-invariant, loss-free link utilization by a factor
of 4x thereby decreasing the number of managed BladeCenter uplinks also by
the same factor. This simplification and up to 16x improvement in
price/performance impacts a data center's cost-of-ownership equation in
terms of lowering infrastructure acquisition cost, driving higher
efficiency from improved asset utilization, and reducing the operating cost
associated with deploying network-related management and maintenance
assets.
I3000 Switching Solution Highlights
The I3000 solution consists of two elements:
1) L2 10-Gb CFE Switch Module
-- Four (4) external 10-Gb CFE uplinks
-- Two (2) external expansion 10-Gb CFE uplinks accessible through
bridge modules
-- Fourteen (14) internal 10-Gb CFE links to server blades
-- Load-invariant, port-to-port latency less than 200ns in a full-mesh
configuration across 64 bytes to 16KB jumbo frames
-- Maximum power consumption less than 45W
-- Rich feature set along with multiple management options to simplify
deployment and maintenance
-- Can be deployed individually, or in pairs, for up to a total of
four switch modules per BladeCenter H or HT chassis
-- Fully compatible and interoperable with best-effort 10-GbE
-- Integrates Fujitsu's chipset MB8AA3021
2) 10-Gb CFE Expansion Card (NIC)
-- Full duplex XAUI interface that can be connected to any of four
10-Gb CFE switch modules
-- State-of-art offload and virtualization features for HPC and
storage connectivity
-- BladeCenter server blade hosts: HS-21, LS-21, LS-41
-- Host Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows and Linux
-- Host System Virtualization Environments: VmWare ESX Server and XEN
Hypervisor
-- Application Transparency: Compatible across all applications
designed to leverage an Ethernet infrastructure
Interoperability Across Two Modes of Operation
The I3000 interoperates transparently across its two modes of operation:
Mode 1: 10-Gb Congestion-Free Ethernet Switching
The L2 10-Gb CFE Switch Module automatically detects the presence of a
10-Gb CFE expansion card and configures itself for active collaboration in
maximizing link utilization and in delivering load-invariant, loss-free
performance on a sustainable basis.
Mode 2: 10-GbE Switching
The L2 10-Gb CFE Switch Module is loosely coupled with any BladeCenter
approved 10-GbE expansion card and delivers best-in-class low latency
performance.
The I3000 is carefully designed for maximum flexibility in an open,
standards-driven manner to support a growing ecosystem of interoperable
Congestion-Free Ethernet compute and storage I/O end-points.
"Congestion management is critical for data-center applications. With its
low latency, low power, small footprint and congestion-management
capabilities, our latest 10-GbE switch chip is well-suited for Teak's
needs," said Asif Hazarika, senior manager for Fujitsu Microelectronics
America, who is heading the company's Networking Business Group. "We are
excited to work with Teak Technologies and provide them silicon for
building the first 10-Gb CFE switch module."
"We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Teak Technologies
and provide I/O silicon for the industry's first 10-Gb CFE Expansion Card
for the IBM BladeCenter platform," said Philippe Levy, VP Marketing at
Neterion, the industry leader in the 10-GbE adapter market for server and
storage environments. "This industry-leading combination of price,
performance, and low latency is the latest example of 10-GbE leading
the fabric convergence movement in enterprise data centers."
"The I3000 solution, which arose out of the partnership between Teak
Technologies, Fujitsu, and Neterion, further demonstrates that the thriving
Blade.org ecosystem is delivering value-add solutions that solve real-world
customer problems," said Doug Balog, chairman of Blade.org, and vice
president and business line executive, IBM BladeCenter.
About Teak Technologies
Teak Technologies' pioneering 10-Gb Congestion-Free Ethernet switching
solutions for the New Data Center make all compute and storage end-points
more productive, not just connected. Founded in 2005, Teak Technologies is
a private, venture-backed company based in Santa Clara, California and can
be reached at www.teaktechnologies.com, or by phone at 408-988-2700.
About Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.
Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) leads the industry in
innovation. FMA provides high-quality, reliable semiconductor products and
services for the networking, communications, automotive, security and other
markets throughout North and South America. For more information about
10-Gigabit Ethernet, please visit http://us.fujitsu.com/micro/10gethernet,
or send an e-mail to inquiry@fma.fujitsu.com.
About Neterion, Inc.
Founded in 2001, Neterion Inc. has locations in Cupertino, California and
Ottawa, Canada. Neterion delivers 10 Gigabit Ethernet hardware & software
solutions that solve customers' high-end networking problems. The Xframe
line of products is based on Neterion-developed technologies that deliver
new levels of performance, availability, and reliability in the data
center. Xframe, Xframe II, and Xframe E include full IPv4 and IPv6 support,
and comprehensive stateless offloads that preserve the integrity of current
TCP/IP implementations without "breaking the stack." Xframe drivers are
available for all major Operating Systems, including Microsoft Windows,
Linux, HP-UX, IBM's AIX, Sun's Solaris and SGI's Irix. Further information
on the company can be found at www.neterion.com.
About Blade.org
Blade.org is a collaborative organization and developer community focused
on accelerating the development and adoption of blade server solutions. The
organization provides leadership to the blade market and fosters a thriving
industry ecosystem focused on delivering valuable solutions to blade
computing customers. For more information, visit the organization online at
www.blade.org.
10-Gb Congestion-Free Ethernet, CFE, Congestion-Free Ethernet Zone, and
Collaborative Ethernet are trademarks or registered trademarks of Teak
Technologies. BladeCenter is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation.
V-NIC and Xframe are trademarks or registered trademarks of Neterion, Inc.
All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective
holders.
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