* Force10 Networks claims two patents on TeraScale E-Series
Force10 Networks recently made news by getting two patents on its 100 Gigabit Ethernet-ready backplane and releasing a line of stackable switches.
I know what you’re thinking: Not so fast, Jeff. There’s no such thing as 100 Gigabit Ethernet. All that’s happened so far, standards-wise, is a discussion on whether 100 Gigabit Ethernet should even exist.
Well, call Force10 proactive.
At this point, the IEEE has formed a study group to try to figure out what the next iteration of Ethernet should be. Some argue for 40Gbps, but the group making more noise is arguing for 100Gbps, as I noted last week.
The company last week announced it has been granted two patents for its 100 Gigabit Ethernet-ready backplane, the heart of its TeraScale E-Series line of switching routers. Force10 touts the backplane’s low-noise power distribution, shielded from the high-speed signal routing.
Force10 says the devices have been tested up to 5Tbps, delivering 330Gbps to each slot.
Meanwhile, this week, Force10 introduced the S-Series line of stackable Gigabit Ethernet switches. As my colleague Phil Hochmuth writes, the S-Series S50V has 48 ports of 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, with power available on each port. There’s also a 24-port version available.
Even though Force10 is making its name at the high end, apparently there is still demand at the Gigabit Ethernet level, and the company is meeting that demand with the new switches. That goes to show that many organizations are not going headlong into 10 Gigabit Ethernet just yet – and won’t be looking at 100 Gigabit (or whatever the higher speed ends up at) for quite some time.
