More on 10GBase-T

12:40 PM -- New adapters conforming to the recently approved copper-based 10-Gbit/s Ethernet spec herald the start of adoption. (See 10GBase-T Adapters Debut.) But "heralding" isn't the same as actually mobilizing.

What's needed are switches, servers, SANs, and NAS to accommodate the new adapters -- and prove the technology's viability with big storage players.

That proof may be coming in the second half of this year, according to Rahul Chopra, cofounder and VP of business development and operations at Teranetics, the chipset supplier behind 10GBase-T adapters from Chelsio and Tehuti Networks, the first out.

"We are working with all of the major players," he says. SAN vendors, he insists, especially midtier market players, are "very serious about 10-gig." Based on the activity of HBA and other key element suppliers with Teranetics, he envisions a market ramp-up in the second half of 2007.

Does that include 10-Gbit/s holdout EMC? There's no way of telling, though reading between the lines indicates that Emulex and QLogic, key adapter OEMs to EMC, may be in the Teranetics lineup. (QLogic refused comment; Emulex couldn't be reached.)We asked EMC to weigh in on company policy regarding 10-Gbit/s Ethernet in general. Up to now, the vendor's dismissed the technology as not in demand. Here's how spokeswoman Hadley Weinzierl replied:

We'll take that as a definite sign of interest.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch