Fulcrum, Lextera to Demo Switch

RENO, Nev. -- Fulcrum Microsystems and Luxtera Inc. today announced the availability to OEMs of a low-latency, 40-Gigabit Ethernet switch/router reference design for datacenter backbone applications. The reference design is composed of a card developed by Luxtera using its nanophotonic “Blazar” 40-Gigabit optical active cable that fits into the Fulcrum “Reno” low-latency, 10-Gigabit Ethernet router platform for datacenter applications.

The reference design will be on display at the upcoming SuperComputing Conference (SC|07), which runs from Nov. 12-15 in Reno, NV, in two separate demonstrations—one in Fulcrum’s booth, #2161, and the other as part of a connectivity demo between Luxtera’s two booths, #384 and #94.

Luxtera’s Blazar is the industry’s first 40-Gigabit optical active cable (OAC). Blazar is based on the company’s CMOS photonics technology, and combines the benefits of optical modules and copper cables to cost-effectively deliver high bandwidth interconnect, reaching up to 300 meters. Blazar binds four 10-Gigabit Ethernet channels into one 40 Gbps high-density QSFP connector, and offers the first 40 Gigabit-capable Ethernet interconnect solution on the market. By utilizing a QSFP form factor, customers can quadruple bandwidth density per shelf.

It is an option for the “Reno” reference design, a 1RU switch/router system that uses Fulcrum’s FocalPoint® FM2224 low-latency switch, or Fulcrum’s FM4224 low-latency router to offer 24 full-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports. With the Luxtera mezzanine card, Reno is configured to feature three 40 Gbps QSFP ports and 12 CX4 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports, all running at full line rate with less than 300 nanoseconds of latency for L3 routing.

Fulcrum Microsystems Inc.