10GBASE-T for Broad 10 Gigabit Adoption in the Data Center

are signicantly reducing both the power
and the cost of 10GBASE-T.
Widespread deployment requires a
cost-effective solution that is backward
compatible and has the exibility capable
of reaching the majority of switches and
servers in the data center. This white
paper looks at what is driving choices for
deploying 10 GbE and how 10GBASE-T will
lead to broader deployment, including its
integration into server motherboards. It
also outlines the advantages of 10GBASE-
T in the data center, including improved
bandwidth, greater exibility, infrastruc-
ture simplication, ease of migration, and
cost reduction.
The Need for 10 Gigabit Ethernet
A variety of technological advancements
and trends are driving the increasing need
for 10 GbE in the data center. For instance,
the widespread availability of multi-core
processors and multi-socket platforms is
boosting server performance. That per-
formance allows customers to host more
applications on a single server, resulting in
multiple applications competing for a nite
number of I/O resources on the server.
Customers are also using virtualization to
consolidate multiple servers onto a single
physical server, reducing their equipment
and power costs. Servers using the lat-
est Intel® Xeon® processors can support
server consolidation ratios of up to fteen
to one.
However, server consolidation and virtual-
ization have a signicant impact on a serv-
er’s network bandwidth requirements, as
the I/O needs of several servers now need
to be met by a single physical server’s
network resources. To match the increase
in network I/O demand, IT has scaled their
network by doubling, tripling, or even qua-
drupling the number of gigabit Ethernet
connections per server. This model has
led to increased networking complexity, as
it requires additional Ethernet adapters,
network cables and switch ports.
The transition to unied networking
adds to the increasing demand for high
bandwidth networking. IT departments
are moving to unied networking to
help simplify network infrastructure by
converging LAN and SAN trafc, including
iSCSI, NAS, and Fibre Channel over Ether-
netFCoE for a single Ethernet data center
protocol. This convergence does simplify
the network but signicantly increases
network I/O demand by enabling multiple
trafc types to share a single Ethernet
fabric.
Continuing down the 1 GbE path is not
sustainable, as the added complexity,
power demands, and cost of additional
GbE adapters will not enable customers
to scale to meet current and future I/O
demands. Simply put, scaling GbE to meet
these demands signicantly increases
the cost and complexity of the network.
Moving to 10 GbE addresses the increased
bandwidth needs while greatly simplify-
ing the network and lowering power
consumption by replacing multiple gigabit
connections with a single or dual-port 10
GbE connection.
Media Options for 10 Gb Ethernet
Despite industry consensus regarding the
move to 10 GbE, its broad deployment of
has been limited, due to a number of fac-
tors. Understanding this dynamic requires
an examination of the pros and cons of
current 10 GbE media options.
The challenge IT managers face with 10
GbE currently is that each of the current
options has a downside, whether in terms
of cost, power consumption, or reach.
10GBASE-CX4
10GBASE-CX4 was an early favorite for 10
GbE deployments, however its adoption
was limited by the bulky and expensive ca-
bles, and its reach is limited to 15 meters.
The size of the CX4 connector prohibited
higher switch densities required for large
scale deployment. Larger diameter cables
are purchased in xed lengths resulting in
challenges to manage cable slack. Path-
ways and spaces may not be sufcient to
handle the larger cables.
Table of Contents
10 GbE: Drivers for Adoption . . . . . . 1
The Need for 10 Gigabit Ethernet . . 2
Media Options for 10 Gb Ethernet . 2
10GBASE-CX4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
SFP+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
10GBASE-SR (SFP+ Fiber) . . . . . . . . . .3
10GBASE-SFP+ DAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
10GBASE-T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Backward Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Data Center Network Architecture Op-
tions for 10 GbE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Future of 10GBASE-T . . . . . . . . . 4
10GBASE-T as LOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
White Paper Title Placeholder Here