Aquantia Launch AQtion 5G/2.5G/1G Multi-Gigabit Ethernet Cards for PCIe
anandtech.com
anandtech.com
These NICs are a start, but there wont be wide adoption until >gb ethernet is integrated into mainstream southbridges.
There's also the lack of a compelling use case. Most consumer NAS boxes are still based on spinning drives, and 1Gb/s is still a reasonable match for a spinning drive.
I've had 10GbE equipment in my house for about 12 years (I worked remotely and did drivers for one of the first 10GbE NICS), but I've never had > 1 Gb/s equipment in anything but lab equipment. Eg, not in my home desktop / NAS server, etc.
And why is sub-5G interesting, isn't the performance end of ethernet at 40G/100G since years ago?
This doesn't really matter in data centers and backbones (which is where you see 40G/100G), but it can be useful in access networks (offices, classrooms, etc.) where the business doesn't want to replace existing cable plant.
Any reason not to use larger channels on 5GHz at home? I can generally only see 1 or 2 other 5GHz networks indoors, compared to dozens of 2.4GHz networks, so SNR should be no issue on a larger channels.
But maybe you were referring to high density enterprise deployments?
Larger channels can be fine at home. But only if you ensure there are no neighbors that overlap with your range. Keep in mind that as you grow in channel width, you'll need a better SNR to maintain those top data rates.
The one other issue I can think of is auto-channel on a neighbor's 802.11n router. An 802.11n router might not recognize the 80mhz channel used in your network, and thus pick a channel that overlaps.
That being said, I use 40Mhz channels at home with no noticeable issues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.5GBASE-T_and_5GBASE-T#Histor...
I would not expect much/any existing 10Gbit hardware to interop.
These days I honestly wouldn't recommend going with multimode for anything new. Use twinax for short distances (e.g. server to ToR) and SM for everything else. The price difference between SM and MM isn't really worth it, especially when taking in account the fact that MM cables usually need to be replaced on each generation.
Though, do you have experience with these exact modules? I have a bunch of “generic” or “cisco compatible” TXVRs died on me recently, some of them became rx-only, some completely unresponsive.
Still alive are finisar-made (or re-branded finisars) and avago. So I prefer used fini/avago to brand-new “compatible” parts.
(Obviously you don't get the adavantage of long range at lower speeds, but the vast majority of people just want faster data transfer in the same room).
Have you had any success with them yourself? Is there any data or resource on how trust worthy these clones are? Tempted to order a couple for testing at home with, at some point...
Would be interesting to know more on the tradeoffs between the two approaches. How much silicon does four channels going 1/4 take, and using how much power, versus a single higher speed channel?
>>> Drivers for both cards will be available ... as well as varieties of Linux (3.10, 3.12, 3.2, 4.2 and 4.4).
Going into a market that everyone avoided on purpose is not a lead.
The cards are worthless without the adequate switches, that will never happen because the effort is on 10 gb.