Blade Intros Transceivers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- BLADE NetworkTechnologies Inc. (BLADE), the leading provider of network switchinginfrastructure to the blade server market, today announced theavailability of two new XFP transceivers for BLADE's embedded 10Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) switch modules for blade servers from BLADEpartners HP and IBM.

The BLADE 10GBase-CX4 XFP module supports link spans up to 15 metersfor short reach connectivity of blade server enclosures. The CX4 XFPmodule is the lowest cost transceiver in the XFP pluggable formfactor for blade servers equipped with 10 Gigabit Ethernet links. Forblade networking applications such as IPTV, Video on Demand (VoD) andMassively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) that require maximumbandwidth and throughput, the BLADE CX4 XFP module provides the mostattractive combination of high performance and low cost for bladeserver networking in the industry-standard pluggable form factor.

According to CIR, a market research and consulting firm, in itsreport entitled, "The Market for 10-G and 40-G Modules and Components:2005-2013," the market for 10 Gbps ports on telecommunications anddata communications equipment will grow from $2.1 billion in 2006 to$4.8 billion by 2010. This will represent growth from 221,000 portsto 1.6 million ports shipped over the same period, with blade serversequipped for 10 Gigabit Ethernet fueling this growth and adoptionjust as earlier Ethernet technologies proceeded into the "massmarket" deployment phase.

The BLADE 10Gb Ethernet XFP Optical Transceiver supports link spansup to 300 meters and functions as the interface between the physicallayer and the data link layer in high-density datacenterapplications, local area networks (LANs), and iSCSI storage areanetworks (SANs). Key features of both XFP modules include:

"These BLADE 10G Ethernet XFPs are the industry's most affordableand reliable transceiver modules," said Vikram Mehta, President andCEO of BLADE Network Technologies. "These small form factor,hot-pluggable 10G Ethernet transceivers provide excellent performancein port-dense networks."

Blade Network Technologies Inc.