Upgrade the Data Center to 10 GbE

Introduction

Ethernet technology has continually evolved to meet up with the never-ending demand for faster rates of data transmission. Through this ongoing evolution, it has matured into the foremost technology standard for local area networks (LANs) as newer, higher performing iterations - such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) is more commonplace. The requirement for faster application speeds has also spurred technological evolution on data carrying techniques. As a result, copper and fiber transmission standards have progressed, providing greater bandwidth for transporting data over Ethernet architectures with reduced cost and complexity.

In the past, 10GbE was neither necessary nor affordable. As with most burgeoning technologies, those dynamics are changing. Technological advancements have resulted in higher performance at lower costs. Therefore, gigabit and 10GbE bandwidth has become affordable for most companies. Regardless of cost, there is also a distinct need. A growing quantity of applications require considerable bandwidth to support the transfer and streaming of large data, audio and video files. As bandwidth-intensive applications and latency sensitive traffic types become ubiquitous, so does the need to encourage and transport them.

10GbE is a great technology to move large amounts of data quickly. The bandwidth it provides in conjunction with server consolidation is highly advantageous for Web caching, real-time application response, parallel processing and storage.

Upgrading the Data Center to 10 Gigabit Ethernet

There has been a lot of discussion about upgrade the data center Ethernet speeds from 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to 40/100GbE. While these topical issues are very important when planning for future needs, the truth is that most data center administrators are upgrading Ethernet speeds from 1GbE to 10GbE. The issue they experience when planning this upgrade using high-speed cabling is the extra expense connected with the server connections. We have a solution to avoid this error that will aid keep costs at a minimum.

Today, the predominant data center architecture is use Top-of-Rack switches as the most efficient ways of achieving Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). Up to now, the best way to connect a 10GbE server and support FCoE is to use a 1/10G switch or fabric extender (FEX) connected with a SFP module or SFP+ DAC - the Cisco Cisco Nexus 2348TQ Fabric Extender (FEX) is a good example. This season Cisco introduced the 2348TQ F-FEX that utilizes 1GBASE-T/10GBASE-T ports supported with category 6/6A copper patch cords and supports FCoE.

Consider a comparison of the two FEX options in the Cisco case. When comparing a 1/10GbE 2348TQ fully loaded with SFP cables to support 1G servers and a 1/10GbE 2348TQ fully loaded with cat6 patch cords, the cost is similar. Use the 10GBASE-T SFP or SFP+ cable is actually hundreds of dollars cheaper. This is not typically enough for a data center manager to consider the 10GBASE-T RJ-45 version. However, the real cost comes when migrating the server connections from 1GbE to 10GbE. When migrating from 1G to 10GbE with the 2348TQ DAC, you have to replace the 1GbE SFP direct attached cables. These cables do not support 10G speeds. SFP+ direct attached cables have to be installed to support 10GbE at a cost of $85 to $100 per cable. Multiply this by 32 ports - the cost has just become significant.

Solution

SFP module is a very popular format that's recommended by a large number of fiber optic component providers. Fiberstore is a professional OEM manufacturer and supplier of optical networking solutions. We can supply 100% compatible Cisco SFP transceivers and also offer customized fiber optical transceiver according to your requirements. You can find a full product line of Cisco compatible SFP modules, such as SFP-10G-SR, SFP-10G-LR, SFP-H10GB-CU1-5M, SFP-H10GB-CU3M, etc.