* Raptor Networks Technology advances in single-mode fiber, storage
Start-up Raptor Networks Technology this week said it was able to run Gigabit Ethernet bi-directionally through a small form-factor pluggable, or SFP, optical interface in a multilayer switch. The company also partnered with iStor Networks to build out its storage-area network offerings.
The bi-directional SFP interfaces were installed in the company’s Ether-Raptor switches, and they passed Ethernet traffic in full-duplex mode over a single strand of single-mode fiber using optical frequencies of 1,310 nanometers and 1,490 nm. The SFP interfaces perform wave division multiplexing in the optical modules themselves, a function that Raptor says used to require stand-alone systems.
Raptor says this means every installation of single-mode fiber could potentially double its Ethernet traffic capacity. Raptor offers the bi-directional modules in its Ether-Raptor 1010 multilayer Distributed Ethernet Fabric Switch and its Oviraptor 1048 multilayer edge switch.
Raptor says its edge is that it is able to lower costs of Gigabit and 10 Gigabit switching by moving all protocol handling into hardware, which also lowers latency, a consideration for voice, video and storage over IP.
Meanwhile, Raptor completed certification of the GigaStorATX 10GbE from iStor Networks. The idea is to combine the storage controllers with Raptor’s network hardware to create iSCSI-based SANs running at 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
The GigaStorATX is intended to let OEMs and system integrators build high-performance iSCSI-based RAID storage out of off-the-shelf PC server and storage enclosures. It has a storage network processor that the company says can sustain 10 Gigabit Ethernet iSCSI traffic at wire speed.
