10-Gigabit Ethernet

Gigabit Ethernet 802 committee was asked by IEEE to start on 10-Gigabit Ethernet. The work pattern was the same as the previous Ethernet standards. 10 Gbps is a truly great speed, 1000 times faster than the original Ethernet. It could be needed inside data centers and exchanges to connect high-end routers, switches, and servers, as well as in long-distance, high bandwidth trunks between offices that are enabling entire area networks based on Ethernet and fiber. The short-distance connections may use copper or fiber, while the long connections may use optical fiber. 10-gigabit Ethernet supports the only full-duplex operation. They concentrate on the details of physical layers that can run at very high speed. CSMA/CD is no more a part of 10-gigabit Ethernet. Compatibility still matters, though, so 10-gigabit Ethernet interfaces auto-negotiate and fall back to the highest speed supported by both ends of the line. The main kinds of 10-gigabit Ethernet are listed in the table below. Multimode fiber with the 0.85µ (short) wavelength is used for medium distances, and single-mode fiber at 1.3µ (long) and 1.5µ (extended) is used for long distances. To make it suitable for wide-area applications, one can use 10GBase-ER which can run for distances of 40 km. All the versions of 10-gigabit Ethernet send a serial stream of information that is produced by scrambling the data bits, then encoding them with a 64B/66B code.

Table: 10-Gigabit Ethernet Cabling

Name	Cable	Max. segment	Advantages
10GBase-SR	Fiber Optics	Up to 300 m	Multimode fiber (0.85µ)
10GBase-LR	Fiber Optics	10 km	Single-mode fiber (1.3µ)
10GBase-ER	Fiber Optics	40 km	Single-mode fiber (1.5µ)
10GBase-ZR	Fiber Optics	80km	Single-mode fiber
10GBase-CX4	4 pairs of twinax	15 m	Twinaxial copper
10GBase-T	4 pairs of UTP	100 m	Category 6a UTP

10GBase-CX4 was the first copper version defined. It uses a cable with four pairs of twin axial copper wiring. It runs at 3.125 Gsymbols/second to reach 10 Gbps. This version of copper is cheaper than fiber but it will beat out in the long run by 10-gigabit Ethernet over more garden variety twisted pair wiring. UTP cables were used in 10GBase-T. Not surprisingly, the physical layer is quite involved o reach 10 Gbps over twisted pair. To send 2500 Mbps in both directions each of the four twisted pairs is used. This speed can be reached using a signaling rate of 800 Msymbols/sec with symbols that use 16 voltage levels. To standardize Ethernet operating at 40Gbps and 100 Gbps IEEE created a group. Proprietary products are already available but the standard is not yet complete.

Where 10 Gigabit Ethernet Usually Used for?

This 10G Ethernet telecommunication technology made it possible to super-fast transfer of data in the network.

It is usually used at:

• Small and Medium Businesses/Organizations
• Enterprise networks
• Home networks
• Data center networks
• Studio networks and many more.

Advantages of 10G Ethernet:

1. Provides reliable superfast speed
2. Prevent data bottlenecks
3. Provides reliable security
4. Expands server capabilities
5. Provides greater scalability

Disadvantages of 10G Ethernet:

1. Not for personal use
2. Setup may be difficult
3. Requires higher power input
4. Cost may be a little high
5. No Mobility

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