New technology brings 10 Gigabit Ethernet closer to mainstream

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Quake Technologies, Inc has unveiled the QT2035S, an Integrated Circuit that brings down the cost of 10Gb Ethernet by 75%.

This increases the possibility of having 10Gb Ethernet (GE) LAN going mainstream within the next few years. Gigabit LAN has pushed the traditional 10/100mbps LAN to entry level and has found its way as an integral part of many recent personal computers and servers.

The rapid growth of data-intensive applications and the broad adoption of Gigabit Ethernet have led to a greater demand for 10GE switch ports, uplinks and server connections.

Despite the demand, 10GE still carries a significant price premium over Gigabit Ethernet. SFP+ pluggable optical modules, to which the QT2035S belongs, are increasingly recognized as a technology necessary to bring the cost of 10GE more in line with that of Gigabit Ethernet.

By reducing silicon in the optical modules to a minimum and through economies of scale between Fibre Channel and Ethernet production volumes, the cost of these modules then becomes significantly lower.

Désiré Athow
Désiré Athow

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website building and web hosting when DHTML and frames were en vogue and started writing about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium. Following an eight-year stint at ITProPortal.com where he discovered the joys of global tech-fests, Désiré now heads up TechRadar Pro. Previously he was a freelance technology journalist at Incisive Media, Breakthrough Publishing and Vnunet, and Business Magazine. He also launched and hosted the first Tech Radio Show on Radio Plus.