Ethernet Alliance Puts Interoperability on Display at Interop Las Vegas

The Ethernet Alliance, a global consortium dedicated to the continued success and advancement of Ethernet technologies today announced details of its presence at Interop Las Vegas, scheduled for March 31 – April 04, 2014 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The organization’s live demo in booth #1958 on the Interop expo floor leverages diverse server and interconnect technologies to illustrate Ethernet’s true interoperability capacities, while providing insight into the coming generation of Ethernet technologies. In its role as one of the world’s leading education, advocacy, and consensus-building organizations, the Ethernet Alliance is on the frontlines of the Ethernet ecosystem’s shift towards greater technology convergence.

“These are extraordinary times for Ethernet; we’ve made the leap from 10 to 40 to 100GbE, and the next speed is just around the corner. Convergence is now – there’s an influx of disruptive technologies converging onto Ethernet, providing users with an abundance of choices as never seen before,” said John D’Ambrosia, chairman, Ethernet Alliance, and chief Ethernet evangelist, Dell. “Today’s multitude of interconnect technologies and server options means being able to build data centers best fitting your organization’s needs and then easily converging onto a single Ethernet-based network. However, this couldn’t have happened without the interoperability built inherently into Ethernet’s DNA.”

The Ethernet Alliance’s demo at Interop 2014 illustrates a live 10/40GbE data center fabric. This unique multi-vendor interoperability demonstration will feature a real-world converged local and storage area network (SAN) infrastructure which includes lossless 10GbE iSCSI SAN traffic with data center bridging functionality, 40GbE connectivity using passive and active links, 40GbE to 10GbE link connectivity via fiber and copper breakout links, and converged network adapter interoperability.

Ethernet Alliance member companies featured in its multi-vendor demo include Aquantia Corp.; Avago Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ: AVGO); Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL); Intel (NASDAQ: INTC); Panduit Corp.; and QLogic Corporation (NASDAQ: QLGC).

For more information about the Ethernet Alliance at Interop 2014, please visit http://www.ethernetalliance.org, follow @EthernetAllianc on Twitter, visit its Facebook page, or join the EA LinkedIn group. Individuals who would like to receive updates on Ethernet Alliance news, activities and events may sign up for the organization’s newsletter at www.ethernetalliance.org/newsletter.

About the Ethernet Alliance

The Ethernet Alliance is a global consortium that includes system and component vendors, industry experts, and university and government professionals who are committed to the continued success and expansion of Ethernet technology. The Ethernet Alliance takes Ethernet standards to market by supporting activities that span from incubation of new Ethernet technologies to interoperability demonstrations and education.

Additional Quotes:

"Aquantia is pleased to participate in the Ethernet Alliance demonstration of 10GBASE-T and other exciting technologies at Interop 2014. With the industry’s first 28nm 10GBASE-T silicon, Aquantia is proud to lead the continued acceleration of 10GBASE-T adoption in the server and data center markets." – Kamal Dalmia, vice president sales and marketing, Aquantia

“As a member of the Ethernet Alliance, Avago is pleased to showcase at Interop 2014 and demonstrate 10G Ethernet (10GE) SFP+ and 40G Ethernet (40GE) / 4x10GE QSFP+ optical transceivers and active optical cables (AOC). The rapid growth of data centers has driven many IT managers to look for optics at lower power and cost with higher density. Avago’s full product line of SFP+/QSFP+ transceivers and AOCs allows a seamless transition from 10GE to 40GE networking.” – I-Hsing Tan, segment marketing manager, Avago Technologies

“Dell has always been a big supporter of standards - they’re the foundation of our Open Networking efforts. Ethernet will continue to be the leading standard for any network and Dell is proud to be a part of the Ethernet Alliance in advancing this critical technology.” – Arpit Joshipura, vice president, Dell Networking.

“Panduit is pleased to be providing the cabling and connectivity infrastructure for this year’s joint demonstration with the Ethernet Alliance at Interop. We are proud to support the Ethernet Alliance because it plays such an important role in the industry, providing resources to help end-users adopt new Ethernet products quickly and easily into their infrastructures.” – Jack D. Tison, chief technology officer, Panduit.

"QLogic is committed to the ongoing development of comprehensive, high-performance networking and storage solutions and pleased to participate in the Ethernet Alliance demonstration of convergence over Ethernet here at Interop. 10Gb Ethernet is breaking new ground and becoming a mainstay data center networking interconnect, which in turn is driving the convergence of networking and storage technologies." – Manoj Wadekar, chief technologist, PTG, QLogic.