10 Gigabit Ethernet networking up and running

High-performance computing (HPC) company Myricom announced today that it has successfully tested joint 10-Gigabit Ethernet networking with Fujitsu.

The tests featured a Fujitsu 10GbE switch in conjunction with Myricom's Myri-10G 10 Gigabit Network Interface Cards.

The firms said that they were aiming to address the demands of HPC environments seeking broader interoperability, and enterprises requiring HPC-calibre performance in media, storage and other intensive applications.

Fujitsu's XG700 layer-2 non-blocking 12-port 10GbE switch is based on what the Japanese electronics giant claims to be the world's first 10GbE switch-on-a-chip.

The XG700 supports full-duplex 10Gbps data rates on all incoming and outgoing ports simultaneously, and demonstrates low latency at 450ns.

The device also boasts a host of advanced features including link aggregation, IGMP snooping, port security, ingress rate control, and cut-through and store-and-forward routing.

In conducting the tests, the engineers claim to have encountered no problems with set-up or interoperability. Performance testing employed standard benchmarks such as 'netperf' in servers in which Myri-10G, PCI-Express, 10GBase-CX4 NICs and Myricom's Linux drivers were installed.

With 9KB jumbo frames, the engineers consistently observed sustained UDP/IP traffic up to 9920Mbps, essentially at the theoretical limit for 10GbE considering the required 64-byte gap between 10GbE frames.

The measured, short-message latency through the Fujitsu XG700 switch was approximately 0.4 microseconds. In random traffic TCP/IP tests, there were no packet data errors, and theoretically ideal arbitration.