SMC Networks Sees 10G Ethernet's Broad Application and Continues its Move Forward with Wide Range of 10G Products

Business Wire, May 21, 2007

Applicability in Numerous Networking Scenarios, 10G is an Important Component of Overall Ethernet Strategy

IRVINE, Calif. -- SMC[R] Networks (www.smc.com) today articulated its view of and plans to make it possible for more companies to leverage 10G Ethernet in their networks with a broad range of current SMC Networks 10G solutions, and plans for more 10G, Gigabit and other Ethernet solutions moving forward.

A long-time supplier of Ethernet switching technology, SMC Networks continues to bring leading edge technology and products to its customers. In line with the company's strategic initiative to maximize network efficiency, speed and bandwidth for a variety of network applications cost-effectively, SMC has developed, and will continue to develop, ten Gigabit Ethernet solutions that leverage the benefits of 10G where it's needed most. SMC has introduced several new 10G switch products over the last year to fill the growing demand for bandwidth and efficiency, including multi-port 10G switches and Gigabit switches with 10G uplink capabilities. The company will continue to introduce more 10G switches that optimize bandwidth where it's needed most, and will extend that bandwidth down the wire with new 10G adapters. As the 10G networking market continues to evolve and redistribute, SMC continues to develop a breadth of products to address today's demands, ensuring that deployment of 10G is a practical solution, when and where it makes a difference--whether for the whole network, or in high-demand portions of it.

As early as 2003, SMC Networks began introducing 10/100/1000 network switches with optional slots for 10G fiber uplinks to accommodate the growing need it saw for selective high-bandwidth connectivity as a means for maintaining overall network performance. The level of deployment of those optional 10G uplinks grew, and confirmed for SMC that the demand for 10G was real and immediate, so SMC introduced a family of TigerSwitch 10G Standalone ten Gigabit XFP fiber managed Ethernet switches, beginning with the SMC8708L2. Designed for network interconnection and specialty applications that benefited from maximal pipeline, these solutions brought fiber optic 10G--and unmatched performance--to networks for about $2000 to $6000 per port, depending on connector type.

User demand for 10G speed and bandwidth continues to grow, even ahead of budgets, so SMC Networks is responding with 10G copper solutions, which offer 10G connectivity over shorter runs at roughly half the per-port price of fiber switching, independent of cable savings. 10GBASE-T enables implementation of flexible data centers and short distance networks where the ease of installation of Cat6A is of added value. In June, SMC will ship the industry's first high-density 10GBASE-T switch. This new SMC8724 standalone switch with 20 10GBASE-T ports and four XFP-based 10G fiber ports packs bandwidth and port density--with versatility--into a small 1U-high space. And, its conformance with IEEE802.3an assures customers that the new TigerSwitch 10G[TM] Standalone 24-port 10G is fully standards-compliant and interoperable. Incorporating multilayer L2/L4 switch management features, the SMC8724 is easy to install and operate in any standards-based Ethernet network.

While 10GBASE-T fills an important role for many data center and NAS applications, 10G fiber is still unquestionably in demand, and that demand will continue to evolve and grow. The SMC8708L2, SMC's first 8 port 10G Layer 2 managed switch, is a core aggregator switch designed to handle heavy traffic workgroups or power users and is capable of reaching up to 160Gbps with a non-blocking switching architecture--and it provides that speed and bandwidth over distances of up to 40 kilometers. SMC Networks will continue to develop Ethernet networking products that incorporate density, efficiency and bandwidth appropriate to varying customer applications, including additional copper and fiber optic 10G, Gigabit and 10/100 Fast Ethernet products.

Switching is central to speed and bandwidth management, but opening the bandwidth further down the line is a priority for SMC as well. SMC's new line of 10G network adapters--including fiber and copper adapters for 10G connections to servers--that stress performance, thermal management, and affordability make that connection, and will roll out beginning in June of 2007. Several key architectural features included in the new SMC 10G Ethernet Adapters separate them from the rest of the pack: cut-through architecture for the lowest latency Ethernet solution on the market; virtualization of the host interface, VNIC, for the cleanest, most efficient acceleration of I/O in virtualized operating system deployments and OS bypass via the OpenOnload[TM] software stack, which delivers real performance benefits over a broad range of applications. SMC's 10G Ethernet Adapters for each high-bandwidth application market segment: Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Servers, Storage Area Network (SAN) Arrays, High Performance Cluster Computers, Blade Servers, Video Servers, Application Servers and Web Accelerators will ship beginning in June, 2007. The new 10G adapter product family includes the industry's first standards-compliant 10GBASE-T server adapter, and 10GBASE-CX4 and XFP optical server adapters running on a high speed PCI-Express x8 Host Bus. And, in line with SMC's commitment to flexibility, all of the new SMC Networks 10G adapters are half-height, with brackets for half- or full-height installation.