2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps Eithernet

[RottenMutt]

http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsp/why-2.5-and-5-gbps-are-the-next-ethernet-speeds.html

I for one can't wait...

need a samba coding improvements to keep up to boot...

 

[System Error Message]

i read through that and found it interesting but no computers are going to have that for a while but some servers already pack 10GbE ports. It would be pricey to implement because you'd have to get the network cards for your PCs and the switch for it. I think it is much cheaper and easier to stick with binding multiple gigabit links and using a switch with SFP+ for stacking.

 

[azazel1024]

It isn't really better. Link bonding is rare. Link aggregation is common, but doesn't do the same thing.

For consumer gear, we'll probably see it sooner rather than later. Supposedly IEEE is looking to ratify either 2.5 or 5Gbps (maybe both?) based on existing proprietary 2.5/5GbE products sometime this year. If so, I'd expect we'll start to see shipping "standards compliant" switches, NICs and chipsets within 12 months.

A lot of .11ac gear is starting to push the edge of what a 1Gbps wired link can provide, and considering the plethora of SSDs and just generally fast HDDs, the GbE is generally a limitation in most networking tasks, even consumer ones, these days. Its about time to see faster, common, network speeds. 10GbE is not yet up for the task as it is too power hungry for a lot of applications still (not going to see it in a laptop for a LONG time) and too expensive.

2.5Gbps might possibly be able to be implemented for not too much more than 1GbE on a per port cost and power consumption, yet providing significantly faster speeds (2.5x faster is a NICE bump).

 

[mervincm]

If I am not mistaken, intel is already baking support for this in their newest 1 gig Ethernet chipsets. Drivers are even making reference to it. Given that these cards are inexpensive, all we need are switches!! LAG is no Panacea, I am really looking forward to this (and Linux supporting multi-channel SMB3 , but I digress)

 

[azazel1024]

If I am not mistaken, intel is already baking support for this in their newest 1 gig Ethernet chipsets. Drivers are even making reference to it. Given that these cards are inexpensive, all we need are switches!! LAG is no Panacea, I am really looking forward to this (and Linux supporting multi-channel SMB3 , but I digress)

Hmm that is interesting if true. Good reason for me to get a brand new Intel dual port NIC then. That or a couple of their new single port NICs if they actually can support 2.5Gbps or 5Gbps (once specs are finalized and core networking products ship).

 

[Shonk]

the problem we have is nothing at the consumer end comes with anything faster than gigabit onboard

I would quite happily go out now and puckup a 10 gigabit switch
but there's no point as nothing i have can use it until we start seeing faster nics getting bundled with laptops / desktops there's not much point

Its quite sad really i have been running gigabit since 2001
luckily smb multipath has come to the rescue as a temp solution