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Solarflare® 10GBASE-T PHY Achieves Operation over 105 Meters under Worst-Case Parameters in UNH Interoperability Lab

Company also successfully completes multi-vendor interoperability tests, demonstrating viability of 10GBASE-T standard

October 09, 2007

Irvine, CA – October 9, 2007 – Solarflare Communications, announced today that it has successfully completed conformance and interoperability tests at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL) in Durham, New Hampshire. Conformance involves testing channels with the same vendor’s transceiver (PHY) chips at both ends of a link and interoperability involves testing independent implementations from different vendors.

Solarflare was the only 10GBASE-T PHY company to successfully operate on the worst-case, 105-meter link in the lab defined in terms of insertion loss and alien cross talk. This conformance and interoperability testing marks a significant milestone for the 10GBASE-T ecosystem. Operational testing to the limits of the specification demonstrates that one implementation can work not only on an average or typical cabling link or channel, but also on the worst-case channel specified by the 10GBASE-T standard. Successful operation on worst-case channels ensures that the implementation can work on all of the supported channels in the field, both legacy cabling plants and new cabling installations. Solarflare successfully operated on all the cabling links present in the UNH-IOL test event, at distances ranging from 30 to 105 meters.

While the IEEE 802.3an standard sets 100 meters as an objective for operation on unshielded twisted-pair cabling, conformance to the standard is only achieved by meeting all of the protocol implementation conformance statements (PICS). Suppliers must demonstrate conformance to a comprehensive list of implementation statements including operation on worst-case channels specified in terms of cabling link or channel impairments.

The most significant channel impairments for 10GBASE-T are insertion loss, alien crosstalk and return loss. Much of the testing took place on links that had varying levels of insertion loss margin. The channel insertion loss, typically expressed in decibels (dB), represents the signal power at a receiver. The ratio of the insertion loss to alien crosstalk and return loss represents the majority of the signal-to-noise (SNR) at a receiver.

To determine an implementation’s ability to conform to the 10GBASE-T standard, the insertion loss must be at the worst-case limit. This is often achieved by extending the test channel length, while maintaining conformance to the PICS parameters, such as delay propagation.

Solarflare successfully interoperated on a 100-meter, four-connector channel with 4.0 dB of insertion loss margin, in other words 4.0 dB less loss than the worst-case specification.

With Solarflare PHYs at both ends of the link, Solarflare took the test to the next level by extending the link to reduce the insertion loss margin in the link. The company thereby successfully operated on the worst-case link among the entire UNH-IOL test configurations (105 meters, four connectors, with 0.1 dB of insertion loss margin, and in the presence of worst-case alien crosstalk).

As defined above, interoperability involves testing independent implementations from different vendors. The multi-vendor interoperability testing during the IOL event was successful on a subset of channel topologies that ranged from 30 to 100 meters. These channels had more margin than the worst-case specification limit. Solarflare successfully interoperated on a 100-meter, four-connector channel with 4.0 dB of insertion loss margin. Successful interoperation shows that the underlying standard is clear and unambiguous and can be supported by multiple suppliers.

Executive quote

“My thanks to Solarflare for attending and contributing to the success of this event,” said Jeff Lapak, technical coordinator of the UNH IOL 10Gigabit Ethernet Consortium. “We tested and confirmed the company’s 10GBASE-T transceiver operation on the worst-case channel in the Lab, 105 meters with 0.1 dB of insertion loss margin in the presence of the worst-case alien crosstalk disturbers, demonstrating conformance to the standard for these parameters.”

Customer quote

“It is vitally important to Dell to offer to its customers robust, interoperable 10GBASE-T products that conform with the standard,” said Rich Hernandez, server development networking technologist with Dell. “10GBASE-T will enable a more cost efficient high speed interconnect that will act as the unifying fabric in the data center. I commend the UNH Interoperability Lab for sponsoring this event.”

Technical specifications

About Solarflare 10GbE Products
Solarflare provides both 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller and 10GBASE-T PHY technology. The Solarstorm™ Ethernet controller delivers the optimal balance of performance, power and price. Solarflare’s 10Xpress® 10GBASE-T PHY supports distances of greater than 100 meters on UTP Category 6A cabling, 100 meters on STP Category 6, 55 meters on UTP Category 6, and 45 meters on UTP Category 5E cabling. The combination of Solarstorm 10GbE controller and 10Xpress 10GBASE-T PHY enables NIC and server OEM customers to bring 10G server adapters to market at about the same cost as quad 1G server adapters—driving the widespread implementation of 10GbE in data centers and enterprise networks. Solarflare silicon solutions are currently sampling to switch, NIC and server OEM customers. Pricing is available upon request.

About the company

About Solarflare Communications, Inc.
Solarflare Communications is a semiconductor company delivering the next level of high-performance 10 Gigabit Ethernet. As the leading provider of standards-based 10GbE silicon and reference designs, Solarflare delivers robust and power-efficient solutions that are cost effective and easy to deploy. Now real and ready for primetime, Solarflare 10 Gigabit Ethernet makes possible next-generation applications such as streaming rich media, Web 2.0, data center virtualization and network convergence. Solarflare is working with key industry partners and customers to ensure interoperability and drive a complete ecosystem. The privately held company is headquartered in Irvine, Calif. with a development center in Cambridge, UK. For more information, visit http://www.solarflare.com.

Contact details

Erin Arnold / Katie Eakins

LEWIS PR for Solarflare

619-677-2000

solarflare@lewispr.com

Supporting materials

About the UNH-IOL
Founded in 1988, the UNH-IOL is one of the networking industry’s premier third-party proving grounds for developing technologies. Approximately 200 companies use the UNH-IOL's 32,000+ sq. foot facility to extend their development and quality assurance efforts by testing and fine-tuning technologies, protocols and products for multi-vendor interoperability and conformance to standards. For more information, visit http://www.iol.unh.edu.

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