New 25, 50, and 100GbE Technology Takes Off
Press Release
Eight Vendors Build 40 Reference Architectures around Dell Servers with 25GbE networks
June 8, 2016 – The 2550100 Alliance, a group of companies working together to bring solutions to market based on new 25, 50 and 100Gb Ethernet technology, today announced the industry has reached six important milestones: 1) Alliance member Dell became the first company with general availability of 25GbE solutions spanning servers and networks, 2) The alliance completed its first SolutionFest which yielded 40 reference architectures, 3) Three companies have opened 2550100 Solution Labs, 4) In only one year since its inception, membership in the 2550100 Alliance has grown to over 140 companies,5) The alliance has become a global community with members in North America, Europe and Asia, and 6) Crowd-sourced reference material from members and non-members is now available to industry watchers at 2550100.com.
“The new generation of 25, 50 and 100 Gb Ethernet technology bolsters enterprise performance and workload management required by hyperscale, cloud service providers and high performance computing,” said Ravi Pendekanti, Vice President of Server Product Management at Dell. “Proven reference architectures, or blueprints, are helping speed the pervasive adoption of 25GbE technology. Regardless of ecosystem, customers now have a clear path to designing and deploying I/O intensive computing environments, an essential step in building a future-ready data center.”
Dell 1st out of the blocks with 25G servers
On April 19th, Dell introduced of the industry’s first servers with 25GbE server connectivity. Dell will be marketing their PowerEdge servers with QLogic 25GbE adapters and Dell Z9100-ON top-of-rack switches. The products form a powerful and flexible platform for computing and I/O in software defined data centers. Dell expects early adopters to include cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service providers, telecoms deploying NFV server appliances, enterprise customers driving dense virtualization and supporting high transaction based workloads, and customers interested on standardizing on 25GbE as a path to 100GbE in the future.
1st 2550100 SolutionFest
On April 27th, Cumulus, Dell, Finisar, Ixia, Kaminario, QLogic, Teledyne LeCroy and Veeam got together at the QLogic 2550100 SolutionLab to help channel partners and customers reap the benefits of new 25Gb Ethernet technology by identifying applications where the new technology fits, deploying the applications at the SolutionFest, and by creating reference architectures which capture the configuration work and testing done at the SolutionFest. Forty reference architectures were assembled at the SolutionFest, covering infrastructure, applications and performance related configurations, are now available at 2550100.com.
“With the general availability of 25GbE products, the ecosystem is expanding and IT organizations are moving into the next step of their networking infrastructure roadmap,” said Jesse Lyles, vice president and general manager, Ethernet Products, QLogic. “As inaugural members of the 2550100 Alliance, QLogic was pleased to host the first SolutionFest, which promises to be an effective vehicle for driving ecosystem support and developing guidelines and reference architectures needed by our enterprise, telco managed service provider and cloud customers to pin point the right technology for different application environments.”
“In today’s digital era, flash technology is enabling companies to break the performance barrier and focus on developing applications that can support innovative solutions,” said Shachar Fienblit, chief technology officer, Kaminario. “We are working with the 2550100 Alliance to eliminate performance bottlenecks, including network connectivity to the all-flash storage array.”
“The next generation of data center Ethernet has arrived with 25, 50 and 100GbE hardware, and Cumulus Linux enables customers to build Better, Faster, Easier networks,” said William Choe, Vice President for Products and Alliances at Cumulus Networks. “We expect our collaboration with 2550100 Alliance partners to accelerate the development of reference architectures and best practices which IT professionals need to operationalize this technology.”
New 2550100 SolutionLabs
One goal of the 2550100 Alliance is to build a community of 2550100 SolutionLabs around the world to provide vendors, channel partners and IT organizations with access to new 25, 50, and 100Gb Ethernet technology. Ixia, QLogic and Teledyne LeCroy are the first companies to open 2550100 SolutionLabs. Information about what services are available and lab contact information is available at https://2550100.com/2550100-solution-lab-directory/.
“The majority of network equipment manufacturers, and those companies that are building their own network equipment, have either already released products that support 100GE, 50GE and 25GE per port, or their releases are on the near horizon. Ixia’s 100/50/25GE multi-rate high speed Ethernet systems have been assisting these efforts since 2014”, said Charles Seifert, Senior Manager for Ixia’s Hardware Platforms. “Events such as the 2550100 Alliance Solution Fest provide an opportunity for equipment manufacturers to showcase production-ready solutions, and Ixia’s goal is to build customer confidence that 25GE, 50GE and 100GE solutions are ready for deployment. Ixia is proud to be named a 2550100 Alliance Solution Lab and is pleased to be a part of the growing ecosystem.”
A Global Community of Over 140 members
As of June 6, 2016, 143 companies have joined the group including companies based in Asia, Europe and North America, and membership is expected to reach 200 companies by the end of 2016. One facet of the 2550100 Alliance which separates this industry organization from others, is the central role of solution providers in the alliance, and in moving 2550100GbE products to market. Over 70 channel partners have joined the group and aim to be at the forefront of guiding IT organizations through the migration to 2550100GbE.
2550100 Alliance Members
AC & NC, Accton, Acer, Advanced Systems Group , AEPONYX, Affirmed Systems, AIC, Algo-Logic Systems, Alpha Networks, Amphenol, Ashlin Technology Solutions, AT Works, Atomic Rules, Avnet, BCNS, BERGT-Consulting, Bloombase, Bluechip Computer, BuyItDirect, C.A.I. Systeme GmbH, Cavium, Centera Photonics, CHI Corporation, Civatech Solutions, Colfax International, Comset, Credo Semiconductor, Cross IT Services & Solutions, Cumulus, Networks, Dallas Digital Services, Data Span, DataCore, Datarang, Dell, Delta Computer GmbH, EarthBend, EchoStreams, EIS, Eltan B.V., Etaphase, ETegro Technologies , Even Enterprises, Exacta, Expert Server Group, EXTRA Computer GmbH, EZPC Limited, FCI, Finisar, Fordway, Freeway Communications, GC Micro, GHA Technologies, Gigabyte Technology, GigaTech Products, Granite River Labs, GraphStream, Great Lakes SAN, GridStore, Hammer GmbH, Harwood International Corporation, HDS, HPE, Huawei, I/O Switch Technologies, Info X, Innovative Technology (ITS), Inspur, Inventec, IP Cores, Inc., Ixia, KeyCode Media, Lenovo, Leoni Special Cables GmbH, LH Computer Services, Load Dynamix, MelroseMac, Merrimac Solutions, Micro Logic, MiTAC, MLCS Ltd , MoSys, MT-C, NCS Technologies, NEC, Netberg, Netcope Technologies, Netgami System, Netronome, Network Solutions Provider, Newtech, N-Tec, Opal CS , OpenData Networks, Open-E, Opti Cloud Technologies, Optical Cable Corporation, Paragon Micro, Partners Data Systems, ProStor, PSSC Labs, QLogic, Quanta (QCT), Rath Microtech (Business Marketers Group), RJ45s.com, SANblaze, SANDirect, Scalable Systems Co. Ltd., SCANEX, Sentinel Connector Systems, Sentral , Serbian Open eXchange, Server Factory, SK Telecom Americas, Sonnet Technologies, Inc., Spider Group, Starline GmbH, Stoneworks (SWTI), STORDIS GmbH, SUSE, T2 Computing, Inc, TAROX AG , TD Curran, Technologent, Teledyne LeCroy, Telesoft , Terabit Systems, Teralux Technology Co, Tim AG, Trivalent Group , V2S Mexico, Veeam, Vucci Tech Sol, Winchester Systems, Wistron, Wortmann AG, X Technologies, Xena Networks, Xilinx, X-IO Technologies, Zadara Storage, Zapata Technology, ZDSL
Crowd-sourcing reference material for channel partners and IT organizations
Another goal of the 2550100 Alliance is to make useful content easily available to channel partners and IT organizations. To that end, the 2550100 Alliance has brought crowd-sourcing to the industry organization world by accepting 2551000GbE reference material from alliance members and non-members, and publishing the content on 2550100.com.
About the 2550100 Alliance
The 2550100 Alliance was formed to pick-up where the 25G Consortium and Ethernet Alliance leave-off, by facilitating collaboration in bringing solutions to market. The backbone of the 2550100 Alliance is a set of programs designed to: 1) Assist hardware and software vendors with early access to 2550100 networking products, and to work together efficiently to develop solutions; 2) Assist channel partners with online and hands-on training, and with early access to 2550100 networking products, so they may guide their customers through the migration and 3) Assist IT professionals with education, hands-on training and early access to 2550100 networking products needed to evaluate and deploy the new technology. Learn more about the 2550100 Alliance at 2550100.com.
Category: News
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