Exablaze Introduces Ultra Low Latency Switch and Application Platform
MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Exablaze, a leading developer and manufacturer of ultra-low-latency network devices, today announced at the London STAC Summit that the company has introduced the world's fastest network switch and application platform, the ExaLINK Fusion. The newest member of its ExaLINK family of switching devices, the ExaLINK Fusion performs conventional layer 2 switching at approximately 110 nanoseconds latency and layer 1.5 switching at 100 nanoseconds, significantly faster than any existing switching device.
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Utilizing a unique modular design, the ExaLINK Fusion preserves the sub-five nanosecond layer 1 switching fabric and related capabilities of its industry leading ExaLINK 50 device, and adds layer 2 switching functionality implemented within a Xilinx Ultrascale FPGA. The layer 1 switching fabric is used as a central connection point for front panel line cards and internal application-specific modules.
The ability to swap out line cards will allow users to mix form factor and signaling standards. The initial release of the device will come with 16 port SFP+ line cards that support Ethernet at rates up to 10Gb, giving a total port density of 48 SFP+ ports. Subsequent line cards will support 25GbE, 40GbE, and faster standards.
Internally the ExaLINK Fusion contains two module bays which are connected to each other and the front panel ports via the layer 1 switching fabric. Exablaze will release a growing family of cards to flexibly populate and configure the Fusion device. The current roadmap includes a range of cards containing FPGAs, processors, high-density memory and signal processing capabilities.
Initial delivery of the ExaLINK Fusion will include a Xilinx Ultrascale FPGA installed in one of the module bays and handling the layer 1.5 and layer 2 switching functionality. This switch will deliver the lowest latency layer 2 switching functionality in the industry, as measured from the front panel ports. Customers will also be able to deploy their own applications to this FPGA, either on the included FPGA module, or on an additional dedicated board in the second module bay.
"As with the ExaNIC X2 and X4 family of network interface cards, the ExaLINK Fusion represents a breakthrough in latency and flexibility," said Greg Robinson, Chairman of Exablaze. "The ExaLINK Fusion is the result of our engineers having listened closely to what our customers have been asking for. The modular design allows users to configure the ExaLINK Fusion to perform a range of key tasks efficiently and with the low latency numbers that customers have come to expect from Exablaze products. Looking further forward, we are also excited about the range of future products and solutions that this new architecture will support, and the relative ease and speed with which we will be able to develop new products."
The ExaLINK Fusion will be available for evaluation in late 2014, with production devices shipping in early 2015.
About Exablaze
Melbourne-based Exablaze designs, develops and manufactures the world's lowest latency network devices, the result of innovative engineering insights and processes. The company's ExaLINK 50 layer one switch, ExaNIC X2 and X4 network interface cards and related FPGA development kits have been increasingly employed by latency-sensitive organizations within a variety of industries including finance, high performance computing, cloud, storage, data centers, telecommunications, energy, defense and academia. The ExaLINK Fusion is the company's newest switch architecture.
Exablaze Contact Details
Exablaze Pty Ltd
Level 5, 443 Little Collins Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Australia
+61-3-9111-1773
www.exablaze.com
info@exablaze.com
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