California-based Ixia reveals the 400GbE Jumpstart Test System, a piece of networking gear the company claims is the first 400Gb/s high speed ethernet test solution in the world.
Based on the IEE P802.3 protocol, the system provides enough bandwidth to stream 50000 simultaneous HD Netflix video streams according to the Ixia. Either way it is the first to complete a 400GbE interoperability test with platform provider Ciena.
The 400GbE Jumpstart Test System is a developer tool kit to help networking vendors accelerate pre-standard 400GbE networking hardware development. It uses Gen 3 CFP-4 connectors with 4 pairs of fibre, and includes wire rate packet generation at 400Gb/s below the minimum and above the maximum ethernet frame sizes.
"Networks are under increasing strain while expectations of uptime and speed are growing, and 400GbE technologies will quickly become a critical part of the network’s backbone,” Ethernet Alliance chairman and IEEE 802.3bs task force chair said John D’Ambrosia says. “Development for these solutions must happen long before 400GbE becomes standard, and Ixia’s development of the industry’s first 400GbE testing program will prove vital in ensuring equipment manufacturers can meet the needs of next-generation networks.”
The 400GbE standard is the stepping stone between 100Gb/s and 1.6Tb/s, and should be ratified sometime on Q1 2017-- meaning it will be a time before the world at large enjoys will actually such networking speeds.
