10 Gigabit Ethernet gear demonstrated

Start-up Tehuti Networks is ramping up demonstrations of equipment built on its 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology.

Tehuti is a fabless semiconductor company that develops so-called "solutions-on-a-chip" for accelerating TCP/IP processing on 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks. The chips it develops would go into network interface cards (NIC).

The company last week said it was joining Fulcrum Microsystems in a 10 Gigabit high-throughput demonstration at the 2007 Server Blade Summit in Anaheim, Calif. According to Tehuti, multiple servers were interconnected using the company's NICs and a Fulcrum FM2224 switch.

The Tehuti adapter used was a dual-port copper-based product, a low-profile server adapter (the dimensions are 4.6 inches by 2.5 inches) that conforms to the IEEE 10GBase-CX4 standard for twin-axial cabling. Power dissipation is 11 watts. The adapter supports Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris, as well as virtualization software such as VMware and Xen.

Fulcrum is also a fabless semiconductor company, but its focus is on chips for interconnecting switches. It concentrates on making parts that offer low latency, fine-grained flow control and high throughput. The Fulcrum design used was a 24-port box with 12 SFP+ module slots and 12 CX4 connectors.

Part of what Tehuti is trying to do is establish that its products interoperate well with other equipment and conform to standards.

Meanwhile, Tehuti is also looking ahead to Interop Las Vegas 2007 later this month. The company is working with other members of the Ethernet Alliance to demonstrate the latest Ethernet technologies at that show.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.