/. Terabit Ethernet is Dead, for Now

Sat Sep 29 10:24:55 UTC 2012

Jared Mauch wrote:

> There is also a problem in the 100GbE space where the market
> pricing hasn't yet reached an amount whereby the economics
> are "close enough" to push people beyond N*10G.

The problem is that physical layer of 100GE (with 10*10G) and
10*10GE are identical (if same plug and cable are used both for
100GE and 10*10GE).

Both 100GE and 10*10GE use trunking. The difference is whether
trunking is done below (100GE) or above (10*10GE) L2 framing.

While 100GE has lower HOL delay (though already negligible with
10GE), 10*10GE is more flexible.

Still, for 100GE, under some circumstances, 100GE with 4*25G may
become less expensive than 10*10GE.

But, as it is unlikely that 1TE will be 4*250G or 400GE will
be 2*200G, faster Ethernet has little, if any, economical merit.

					Masataka Ohta