Solarflare Demos With CommScope

IRVINE, Calif. -- Solarflare Communications, the leading provider of standards-compliant 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) silicon, recently completed a 10GBASE-T product demonstration with CommScope, Inc. (NYSE:CTV), the global leader in enterprise cabling infrastructure solutions for communications networks. The demonstration was held at the HP Technology Forum & Expo in Las Vegas.

Showcasing Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization technology over a 10GBASE-T network using CommScope and Solarflare products, the demo used iSCSI as the vehicle to talk to the centralized storage where virtual machines and their data are stored. The Hyper-V role uses the native Microsoft SCSI drivers within the native Windows Server 2009 platform to communicate with the storage devices, start and run the virtual machines. Together, the solution shows the convergence of iSCSI and networking over a low-cost and low-power 10GbE network without the need for special iSCSI host bus adaptors, other protocols or specialized network gear.

Using IOMeter to drive over 2900 MB/s of iSCSI storage network traffic, the topology consists of a 10GBASE-T NIC and switch using Solarflare technology and Ethernet traffic running over 100 meters of SYSTIMAX® GigaSPEED® X10D Category 6A cabling in a six-around-one 4 connector configuration—representing the worst-case channel configuration as specified in the TIA augmented Category 6 standard. The cornerstone of this solution, Solarflare’s Solarstorm™ SFC4000E vNIC 10GbE controller, accelerates network traffic efficiently with wire speed throughput on all the major virtualization environments.

“The proliferation of server virtualization, the growth of rich media applications and the convergence of data and storage networking are driving the need for cost effective, easy-to-use 10GbE networking,” said Bruce Tolley, vice president of marketing, Solarflare Communications.

Solarflare Communications Inc.