Force10 Teams with Solarflare to Offer Bundled End-to-End 10GbE Solution

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Force10 Networks, Inc., a leader in high-performance data center networking, today announced that it has entered into a joint marketing agreement with Solarflare, a leader in high-performance, low-latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) server adapters and software, to bundle Force10's S4810 top-of-rack (ToR) data center switch with the Solarflare SFN5122F Enterprise dual-port 10Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) SFP+ server adapter and the Solarflare SFN5162F Midrange dual-port 10GbE SFP+ server adapter providing customers with an end-to-end solution for 10GbE networking. The bundles are available through Force10's authorized distributors, Avnet and Synnex, in Europe, US, and Canada in configurations that include 12, 24 and 48 server adapters along with S4810 switches.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100831/SF55967LOGO)

Customers who purchase the bundles will also have access to Solarflare OpenOnload® application acceleration middleware. OpenOnload enables customers to get high performance without the need to deploy new wire protocols or re-engineer networks. The use of OpenOnload can increase message rates up to two- to three-fold while decreasing application latency 50 percent.

"By combining the best-in-class S4810 switch with our industry-leading 10Gigabit Ethernet adapters, we offer a convenient, cost-effective bundle that provides high-performance server connectivity," said Mike Smith, vice president and general manager of host solutions at Solarflare. "The S4810 delivers unrivaled 10Gigabit Ethernet density at the top of rack, and our adapters and middleware provide full 10Gigabit throughput and application acceleration to ensure the highest end-to-end performance."

The Force10 S4810 is an ultra low-latency 10/40 GbE ToR switch purpose-built for applications in high-performance data center and computing environments. Leveraging a non-blocking, cut-through switching architecture, the S4810 delivers line-rate L2 and L3 forwarding capacity with ultra low latency to maximize network performance. The compact S4810 design provides industry-leading density of 48 dual-speed 1/10 GbE (SFP+) ports, as well as four 40 GbE QSFP+ uplinks to conserve valuable rack space and simplify the migration to 40 Gbps in the data center core. The Solarflare SFN5122F enterprise 10GbE SFP+ server adapter delivers the highest performance, lowest latency, and most scalable 10GbE solution in the industry. These adapters are ideal for the most demanding applications, including scale-out cloud and big data applications, high-performance computing (HPC), high frequency trading and virtualized data centers. The SFN5162 midrange 10GBE SFP+ server adapter combines excellent performance and exceptional value for data center, enterprise, SMB, and HPC environments. The Solarflare adapters support Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and Solaris, and are fully certified for Microsoft Windows Server, VMware, and Citrix environments.

"Migration to 10-Gigabit Ethernet is essential for high-performance data centers, but data center operators want to ensure that they are getting the fastest solutions at the best price," said Michael O'Brien, vice president of channels and alliances at Force10 Networks. "This combination of our S4810 ToR switch and Solarflare's server adapters are ideal solutions for those wanting best-of-breed 10GbE networking."

Module numbers, pricing, and availability

The bundles are available now. For pricing, customers should contact their local value added resellers.

The E12, E24, E48 bundles include the Solarflare SFN5122F Enterprise dual-port 10GbE SFP+ server adapter in quantities of 12, 24, or 48.

The M12, M24, M48 bundles include the Solarflare SFN5162F Midrange dual-port 10GbE SFP+ server adapter in quantities of 12, 24, or 48.

About Solarflare

Solarflare is the leading provider of intelligent, application-aware server I/O products. The company helps its customers improve performance, increase scalability and provide higher ROI for scale-out compute environments, such as high frequency trading, high performance computing, cloud, virtualization and big data. Solarflare’s products are used globally by many of the world's largest companies, and are available from leading distributors, value-added resellers and system integrators, as well as from Dell and HP. Solarflare is headquartered in Irvine, California, and has an R&D site in Cambridge. For more information, please visit www.solarflare.com

About Force10 Networks

Force10 Networks develops high-performance data center solutions powered by the industry's most innovative line of open, standards-based, networking hardware and software. The company's Open Cloud Networking framework grants Web 2.0/portal operators, cloud and hosting providers, enterprise and special-purpose data center customers new levels of flexibility, performance, scale and automation—fundamentally changing the economics of data center networking. Force10 Networks operates globally, providing 24x7 service and support to its customer base in more than 60 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.force10networks.com.

Force10 Networks, the Force10 Networks logo, Force10, E-Series, Traverse, and TraverseEdge are registered trademarks and ExaScale, S-Series, TeraScale, FTOS, S4810, Open Automation, JumpStart, SwitchLink, SmartScripts, and HyperLink, are trademarks of Force10 Networks, Inc. All other company names are trademarks of their respective holders.

SOURCE Force10 Networks, Inc.