100 Gigabit Ethernet: Bridge to Terabit Ethernet

IT managers who are getting started with -- or even pushing the limits of -- 10 Gigabit Ethernet in their LANs and data centers won't have to wait long for higher speed connectivity.

[ Podcast: Pushing Beyond 100 Gigabit Ethernet Slideshow: The evolution of Ethernet ]

Pre-standard 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet products -- server network interface cards, switch uplinks and switches -- are expected to hit the market later this year. And standards-compliant products are expected to ship in the second half of next year, not long after the expected June 2010 ratification of the 802.3ba standard.

The IEEE, which began work on the standard in late 2006, is expected to define two different speeds of Ethernet for two different applications: 40G for server connectivity and 100G for core switching.

Despite the global economic slowdown, global revenue for 10G fixed Ethernet switches doubled in 2008, according to Infonetics. And there is pent-up demand for 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, says John D'Ambrosia, chair of the 802.3ba task force in the IEEE and a senior research scientist at Force10 Networks.

"There are a number of people already who are using link aggregation to try and create pipes of that capacity," he says. "It's not the cleanest way to do things...(but) people already need that capacity."

D'Ambrosia says even though 40/100G Ethernet products haven't arrived yet, he's already thinking ahead to Terabit Ethernet standards and products by 2015. "We are going to see a call for a higher speed much sooner than we saw the call for this generation" of 10/40/100G Ethernet, he says.

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