Solarflare Samples 40nm quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY chip

Solarflare has begun sampling a 40nm quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY chip to large server and switch OEMs. Target applications include single and dual-port Ethernet server adapters, high-density LAN switch to server, LAN switch to switch, iSCSI based IP storage and test equipment designs.


The device, which represents Solarflare's fourth generation, achieves 100 meter reach at one-third the power consumption of existing 10GBASE-T PHYs. The company said that under normal 100 meter operation, the new SFT9104 consumes just 2.5 watts per port. The chip has multiple data center power modes including a 1.5 watts ultra-low power and latency mode for in-the-rack applications. The SFT9104 is fully backwards compatible with both 1000BASE-T and 100BASE-TX.


"We have achieved the power, density, performance and cost required to accelerate the mass adoption of 10GbE," said Russell Stern, CEO of Solarflare. "Delivering quad-port PHYs at 2.5 watts per port makes the SFT9104, by far, the lowest-power and easiest 10GBASE-T part for our customers to integrate into their designs."


Commercial availability is expected in Q4 2010.
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