Blaze Ships First 10 Gigabit Ethernet XENPAK Modules To Market
3Com endorses 10GBASE-LX4 as the optimal solution for 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the enterprise
Dublin, CA. Maintaining their market lead in the development and deployment of 10 Gigabit Ethernet optical modules, Blaze Network Products today announced the first shipments of 10GBASE-LX4 compliant transceivers in the XENPAK MSA pluggable form factor. Based on coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) technology, the Flamethrower-XGLX4 exceeds the distance objectives established by IEEE 802.3ae for 10 Gigabit Ethernet enterprise applications.
"The 10GBASE-LX4 transceiver is the optimal solution for 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the enterprise space," said Shaun Paice, Business Strategy manager at 3Com s Business Networks Company. "It addresses two of the IEEE 802.3ae distance objectives for multi mode and single mode cable plants through a single port. This makes it easier for customers to implement 10 Gigabit Ethernet and protects their existing cabling investments."
The Flamethrower-XGLX4 is the first IEEE 802.3ae industry standard XENPAK module to ship in the market. The pluggable device is the most versatile of all 10 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver options since it can transmit over multimode or singlemode fiber. Utilizing XAUI as the electrical interface, the four-channel design of the Flamethrower-XGLX4 doesn t require the additional internal SERDES chips needed by the competing serial solutions to operate within 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications.
"It is truly the best solution to support the enterprise applications of 10 Gigabit Ethernet," said Kirk Bovill, Director of Marketing at Blaze. "The manufacturers have been pushing for simplicity and a reduced number of PMDs to support in the market. Blaze has stepped up to the plate and delivered the Flamethrower-XGLX4 as the perfect choice. It can run over 300 meters on installed multimode fiber cable plants and 10km over singlemode fiber. The end-user doesn t have to upgrade or pull new fiber to support their network as is the case with 850nm serial solutions that require new fiber to get any kind of functional distance for network use."
The Flamethrower-XGLX4 adheres to the current revision of the IEEE 802.3ae 10GBASE-XGLX4 standard. In addition to Blaze, Molex and Pine Photonics will also be supplying this product to the market. Earlier in September, the three companies completed vendor-to-vendor testing to ensure that the interoperability requirements of the IEEE specification were satisfied.
Blaze has been shipping 10 Gigabit Ethernet CWDM-based transceivers since early March 2001. The earlier versions have been based on 850nm-range VCSEL technology. The Afterburner-XGSX4 transceiver provides the best performance and lowest cost for MMF-only applications. It can achieve almost a 4x improvement in transmission distances over the competing 850 serial solutions at a cost of $500 in volume.
"The Flamethrower-XGLX4 will be priced at around $1,600 for moderate volumes in 2002," said Steve Selee, Blaze XENPAK product manager. "We feel we provide the best value to the customer; a single product that exceeds the combined performances of 850 and 1300 serial transceivers within the enterprise networks. We are not trying to stiff-arm the end-user into pulling new fiber and raising deployment expenses. If they want to pull new fiber, that works for us too since we can go further over any type of MMF when comparing us to the 850 serial solutions."
About 3Com Corporation 3Com is the global leader in functionally rich, easy-to-use networking products that connect businesses to their employees, customers and suppliers anytime, anywhere. 3Com is also a leader in Internet protocol (IP) service platforms and access infrastructure for the network service provider market. In 1979, the company was founded by one of the inventors of Ethernet technology on which virtually all local area networks are based. Since then, 3Com has sold more than 340,000,000 Ethernet connections. 3Com has headquarters in Santa Clara, California and offices around the world. For further information, please visit www.3Com.com, or the press site www.3Com.com/pressbox.
About Blaze Network Products Blaze Network Products designs and manufactures next-generation optoelectronic products for data communications networks using coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) technology. Blaze is an innovator in using state-of-the-art technologies and manufacturing processes to provide pluggable, cost-effective.
Contact: Dabney Oliver senior account executive Loomis Group Tel: 512-457-9400 oliverd@loomisgroup.com
Dabney Oliversenior account executive
Loomis Group
Tel: 512-457-9400
oliverd@loomisgroup.com
E-mail: oliverd@loomisgroup.com
Web site: http://www.3Com.com/pressbox
