Neterion | Solutions

Neterion's technology is totally focused on exponentially improving high speed networking, storage and computing systems by deploying 10 Gigabit Ethernet in an evolutionary, cost effective manner.

Server I/O architecture for network connectivity has not evolved since the days of 10Mb/s connections. Data centers are using a proliferation of switches and various storage appliances in an attempt to protect servers from the inefficiencies of today's server I/O architecture. This strategy, while very simple to understand, has not produced economies of scale as data centers move from 10/100Mb/s to Gb/s and now on to 10 GbE connectivity.

The IEEE's ratification of the "10 GbE on fiber" standard in the summer of 2002 has enabled Neterion to be the first company to offer an evolutionary path to 10 GE performance. IT management can enjoy the benefits of dramatically increased network bandwidth while keeping their existing cabling, tools sets, management systems and operations. They do not need to make changes to the Operating System other than adding a new driver. Neterion employs the talents of experienced ASIC design and networking engineers to deliver the cost benefits of high speed 10 GE to bandwidth-constrained environments for many applications ranging from the enterprise to the scientific that include:

Our motto is simple: At 10 Gb, everything goes Ethernet.

Server & Storage I/O Trends

IT organizations are tasked with providing reliable and efficient user access to corporate data, applications and services wherever the user or data resides. Data center infrastructures and high performance computing environments have met this challenge by installing a proliferation of switches, servers and various proprietary storage appliances as a means of satisfying escalating end user demands. This strategy, while simple to understand, fails to produce economies of scale and often results in information silos and data processing islands.

IT senior management faces its own set of challenges. They must optimize resources through the consolidation of server and storage networks. CIO/CTOs must protect their firm's investments in the current data center infrastructure. They are also concerned about the possibility of negatively impacting their company's bottom line by adopting the wrong technology or products. However, IT management cannot remain too conservative because they most evolve their data center architecture to meet new applications and end user needs. Overlaying these demands is the continuing need to lower overall TCO.

A new standard of a long-established technology has been adopted in order to deliver the performance and reliability required to meet growing demands of networked server, storage and cluster computing environments. It is 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Products developed around this standards-based protocol, enable ease of integration and ensure infrastructure flexibility.

10 Gigabit Ethernet has been used in MAN and WANs for several years and is now beginning to migrate to the data center as a medium of choice for high-speed backbone transport. 10 Gigabit Ethernet offers unmatched reliability, availability and scalability (RAS). IT managers and CIOs like the technology because of its non-proprietary nature, "future proofs" their investments and optimizes their architecture. As 10 Gigabit Ethernet gains wider adoption, the server/storage silos and data islands can be integrated and provide exponential improvements in bandwidth performance, lowered latency, NAS (network attached storage) performance and reduced cabling expenses.

As CIOs' embark on new IT initiatives, 10 Gigabit Ethernet is becoming a "safe" choice for networked server, storage and cluster computing environments.

The 10Gb Ethernet Advantage

The amount of information being, sent, received and stored in today's networked server, storage and cluster computing environments has resulted in organizations transitioning their infrastructure from 100 Mbs Ethernet (Fast Ethernet) to 1 Gigabit Ethernet speeds. These same organizations are now beginning to migrate their corporate backbones to 10 Gigabit Ethernet for the same reasons. It's a natural migration due to Ethernet's reliability, scalability, high performance and ease of integration. Driving this 10-fold increase in speed are applications such as video conferencing, video streaming, multi-media content distribution, on-line training materials, cluster computing and data mining systems.

Ethernet recently celebrated its 30 birthday and is now used in over 85% of all network connections. Its advantages are taken for granted in supporting mission critical applications in thousands of enterprise data centers. With over 300 million hub and switch ports installed, almost all Internet traffic today starts and ends on Ethernet attached workstations.

10 Gigabit Ethernet has now been formally ratified as an IEEE 802.3ae standard. It uses the standard Ethernet media access control (MAC) protocol and the same Ethernet frame and size format. 10 Gigabit Ethernet is full duplex, just like full-duplex Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet.

However, the migration path from 1 to 10 Gigabit Ethernet is more difficult than simply moving from 100 MbE to 1 GbE. At 10 Gigabit speeds, the flood of 10 billion bits data per second can result in I/O connectivity bottlenecks and cause motherboard CPUs to become traffic cops, spending up to 90% of their cycles sorting headers instead of processing data. The result is increased IT equipment expenditures, rising management and maintenance costs, and end user frustration over delays in accessing data.

Fortunately, Neterion is offering 10 Gigabit Ethernet products for server/storage OEMs today that offer the inherent advantages of Ethernet. These include:

These benefits are enabling the development of a 10 Gigabit Ethernet ecosystem that consists of switches, servers and storage appliances. This is leading to an increased adoption of the technology resulting in declining prices ranging from components to systems. It is now inevitable that 10 Gigabit Ethernet will become the preferred medium for networked servers, storage and cluster computing environments.