The Linley Group

This week, Intel announced its second-generation 10G Ethernet controller along with a new GbE controller. Both chips are dual-port devices for PCI Express. The 82598 10GbE chip sports a pair of XAUI/CX4/KX4 ports and a PCIe x8 host interface, while the 82575 GbE chip integrates dual 1000Base-T PHYs and fiber/backplane serdes along with a PCIe x4 interface. Although the chips’ PCIe interfaces are v2.0 compliant, they operate at only 2.5Gbps per lane. Both are single-chip designs that require no external memories. The 82598 is due to reach production in September, while the 82575 is already in production. Intel did not announce pricing, nor did it announce adapters (NICs) based on the new chips.

As expected, Intel’s second-generation 10GbE controller adds support for I/OAT, which offloads data movement to a DMA engine integrated into the system-logic chip set. Not coincidentally, Intel is sampling a new multiprocessor platform code-named Caneland, which brings I/OAT to MP servers for the first time. With four sockets that can each hold a quad-core processor, Caneland will have a whopping 16 CPUs. To take advantage of such platforms, the 82598 supports receive-side scaling (RSS) plus 16 hardware queues for virtual machines; the 82575 2xGbE chip supports four hardware queues. Although I/OAT is not yet supported in VMware ESX, Intel points out it was demonstrated last year.

After introducing the industry’s first 10GbE NIC back in 2002, Intel allowed startups to grab the technology and market lead as it waited for the market to develop. With the introduction of its second-generation design, Intel now has an up to date 10GbE offering to complement its latest server platforms. But Broadcom has also announced its entry into the market for 10GbE server chips, setting up a battle between the incumbent leaders in server connectivity. Add Sun/Marvell and a raft of smaller vendors to the mix, and there will be a well-beaten path to the doors of the leading server OEMs. —Bob

Complete coverage of 10GbE NICs and controllers will appear in an upcoming report from The Linley Group.

Last week we held our Enterprise and Data-Center Networking seminar in San Jose. The latest event in our Linley Tech series focused on the technologies and underlying silicon driving the advancement of data-center networks. Prepared talks covered a wide range of subjects including processors with integrated acceleration for L4-7 switching, high-speed optical and backplane interconnects, and data-center fabrics using 10GbE and InfiniBand. We ended the seminar with a lively panel discussion where we asked the panelists to polish up their crystal balls and make some predictions about the future of data-center networks.

Of the topics we visited, data-center Ethernet (DCE) was perhaps the most controversial. Although none of the panelists doubted the feasibility of creating a lossless Ethernet fabric, some questioned the need for DCE and others felt it would take many years to achieve. Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) was cited as the primary protocol that requires a lossless fabric, but alternatives to FCoE are already deployed in the form of iSCSI for Ethernet networks as well as multiple storage protocols for InfiniBand. Panelists also pointed out that 10GbE is already being deployed in data centers and that current equipment lacks support for new protocols such as per-priority pause and congestion management, which form the basis for DCE. (See Fujitsu’s presentation for more details on these protocols.) Overall, there was general agreement that DCE will happen but the discussion brought some reality to the hype.

Another hot topic centered on data-center interconnects and PHY technology for 10Gbps and beyond. Representatives on the panel had vested interests spanning optical, backplane, low-latency, and UTP-copper interconnects. Although nobody claimed 10GBase-T would fail to be adopted in LANs, there was considerable debate over the importance of latency in data-center networks. Solarflare suggested that early 10GBase-T PHY implementations would likely have latencies of about two microseconds, which is the maximum latency allowed by the standard. AMCC stated that, by comparison, 10GBase-KR has a XAUI-to-XAUI latency of 600 to 650 nanoseconds. While Solarflare claimed 10GBase-T latency was not even an issue for many HPC applications, other panelists pointed out that latency was important in storage applications as well as HPC. In the end, no consensus emerged as to which interconnect would dominate in the data center. —Bob

For more details of this event, download the proceedings, including a full transcript of the closing panel, for free at our web site.

This week, Bay Microsystems announced a $16 million round of funding, which pushes the company’s total funding close to $56 million. The round was led by new investors Quicksilver Ventures and W Capital and included a half-dozen existing investors. Although Bay has been profitable since 2005, this additional funding gives the company greater operational flexibility and helps demonstrate long-term financial stability. Bay expects its 2007 revenue to top $20 million as its transport products begin to generate revenue in addition to its network processors. By expanding its customer-support resources, Bay plans to further diversify its business and fuel future growth. —Bob

Join us on September 13 for a Linley Tech seminar on designing security into networking systems. The seminar is designed to help system designers who are designing security systems or designing security into routers or other equipment. The program features technical presentations from leading suppliers of products for this market including Freescale, AMCC, SafeNet, Intel, Elliptic, and Tarari.

Bob Wheeler, senior analyst at The Linley Group, will begin the program with an overview of security technologies (e.g., VPN, DoS, firewall, IDS/IPS, antivirus), market trends, and silicon trends. The remainder of the day will include talks and panel discussions covering a broad range of security-design topics including VPN/firewall and content-inspection functions. To get an idea of what you can expect, see last year’s detailed program.

Regular admission is $495, but is free to qualified individuals who register by Sept 10. The seminar is targeted at system designers, OEMs, network-equipment vendors, service providers, security-software vendors, press, and the financial community. This Linley Tech seminar will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose. Space is limited; register today to reserve your place.

This event is sponsored by Freescale, AMCC, SafeNet, Intel, Elliptic, and Tarari.

The Ethernet market is marked by rapid technology transitions, which often result in large shifts in vendor share. In Ethernet switches, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) shipments are still growing quickly, displacing Fast Ethernet products. Despite strong competition from incumbent vendors Broadcom and Marvell, new vendors such as LSI, Realtek, and Vitesse are winning designs in this high-growth segment. The number of Ethernet ports at 10Gbps is increasing rapidly. Broadcom, Fujitsu, and Fulcrum are competing to establish a leadership position. The market for 10GbE PHY is even more competitive with several vendors vying to establish an early leadership position. In some cases, large vendors have acquired startups to fill holes, while at the same time, PHY vendors continue to raise new funding. The combination of new investment and increasing number of entrants is serving to make the Ethernet switch and PHY market increasingly competitive.

A Guide to Ethernet Switch and PHY Chips breaks this market into six key segments:

Unlike typical market research, this report provides technology analysis and head-to-head product comparisons. Which chips will win designs and why? How will these vendors be positioned as GbE and 10GbE continue to grow? Only The Linley Group’s unique technology analysis can provide this forward-looking view.

The report delivers a complete chapter on five major vendors that offer products in multiple segments: LSI, Broadcom, Marvell, Realtek, and Vitesse. Each major-vendor chapter includes company background information, full details of announced products, a discussion of the vendor’s roadmap where available, and our conclusions about the vendor and its products. Then, for each product segment, we include a chapter covering other vendors and a chapter comparing the products in the segment.

Product segment chapters include coverage of switch chips, PHY chips, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) chips. We cover switch chips from Dune, Fujitsu, Fulcrum, and SwitchCore. For PHY products, we cover optical transceivers from Aeluros, AMCC, Clariphy, Phyworks, and Scintera, as well as Ethernet backplane transceivers from these vendors. We also provide coverage of 10Gbps Ethernet-over-copper chips from Solarflare and Teranetics, as well as providing the landscape of vendors that have yet to announce products. For Power over Ethernet, we provide thorough background and cover products from Akros, Linear Technology, Maxim, Microsemi, SiLabs, and Texas Instruments. Finally, we provide our outlook for the leading vendors in each segment and for the overall market.

Order by August 31to take advantage of a special prepublication discount. For more information on this report, visit our web site.