Solarflare goes for low power in 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller

Chip maker Solarflare Communications this week introduced what it calls the industry's lowest-power 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller.

Called Solarstorm, the controller operates at 2.2 watts. Plus, Solarflare introduced a server adapter reference design that is compliant with the 10GBase-T standard for 10 Gigabit Ethernet over unshielded twisted-pair wiring, and reference designs for 10GBase-CX4 copper and XFP optical server adapters.

Solarflare is hoping that the combination of low power and high performance in the reference designs will help to spur adoption of 10 Gigabit.

The company says its controller has the lowest latency available in a 10 Gigabit controller and offers OEMs simplicity that should help them develop products quickly.

The controller can also use Intel's QuickData technology platform announced in October, Solarflare says. QuickData is intended to find the proper division of labor between the controller and the motherboard chip set, according to Intel.

Solarflare is also touting the low cost of the new controller and its PHY, which the company says will allow manufacturers to offer 10 Gigabit Ethernet server adapters at about the same cost as quad-port server adapters that use Gigabit Ethernet.

The 10GBase-T standard requires equipment to be able to transmit data over 100 meters of Category-6A wiring. Solarflare says its PHY exceeds that reach, and can go 100 meters on shielded twisted-pair Category 6, 55 meters on UTP Category 6, and 45 meters on UTP Category-5E wiring.

Solarflare merged with Level 5 Networks last year, and the companies talked at that time about building lower-cost 10 Gigabit Ethernet server adapters with their combined resources.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.