NBASE-T Products Get Real at Interop 2016

BEAVERTON, OR--(Marketwired - Apr 19, 2016) - Showcasing the growing list of solutions that support 2.5 and 5 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) over twisted pair copper cabling (2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T), the NBASE-T Alliance today announced that its members will demonstrate NBASE-T™ products in multiple deployment scenarios at Interop Las Vegas 2016 (May 4-6 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center). Together in Booth #936, the demonstrations will show products -- many of which are already deployed and shipping -- from alliance members Aquantia, Aukua Systems, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, Cisco, CommScope (NASDAQ: COMM), Fluke Networks, Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL), Microsemi (NASDAQ: MSCC), NETGEAR (NASDAQ: NTGR), Panduit, Spirent (LON: SPT) and Tehuti Networks.

"NBASE-T product support continues to grow and deployment of these products is already taking place in enterprise and campus networks with healthcare, education and hospitality markets leading the way," said LK Bhupathi, chair of the Marketing Work Group, NBASE-T Alliance. "Our demonstrations show how NBASE-T solutions are delivering on the promise to significantly increase network bandwidth and greatly enhance user experience in enterprises, small-medium businesses and residential environments by leveraging their existing cabling infrastructure ensuring business continuity and avoiding costly upgrades."

More than a dozen alliance members are already shipping products based on the NBASE-T specification, leading the way for the Dell'Oro Group's prediction there will be a doubling of ports shipped every year in the 2.5G and 5G Ethernet market over the next 3 years. Multiple live demos will show real use cases for NBASE-T products, demonstrating the transport of data at 2.5G and 5G Ethernet rates across 802.11ac Wave2 access points, network-attached storage (NAS) devices, PC platforms, Server NICs, enterprise-class switches and PoE endpoints. Connectivity between these products will be based on a wide range of cabling configurations including Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat6a, with lengths extending up to 100m.

Working Toward a 2.5G/5G Ethernet Standard
The availability of the NBASE-T specification has allowed members to quickly develop and test their solutions, thereby accelerating their proliferation in the market, as well as helping streamline the development of a new 2.5G/5G Ethernet standard known as IEEE 802.3bz. The technical baselines adopted by the 802.3bz Task Force are consistent with the NBASE-T specification and all NBASE-T products are expected to be compatible with the final standard, which is on track for ratification later this year.

ABOUT INTEROP®
Interop is the leading global IT infrastructure event series, offering in-depth education alongside a showcase of emerging technologies in an independent, vendor-neutral environment. For 30 years, Interop has brought the IT community together to explore the latest in network infrastructure, encouraging collaboration, and interoperability. Through dynamic conference programs, Interop helps professionals at all career levels leverage the network, systems and applications that enable business innovation. The Interop Expo and InteropNet Demo Lab provide immersive, hands-on experiences, while connecting enterprise IT buyers with leading suppliers. Interop Las Vegas is the flagship event held each spring, with an annual event in Tokyo and Cloud Connect China in Shanghai. For more information, visit interop.com. Interop is organized by UBM Americas, a part of UBM plc (UBM.L), an Events First marketing and communications services business. For more information, visit ubmamericas.com.

About the NBASE-T Alliance
The NBASE-T Alliance is an industry-wide cooperative effort focused on enabling the development and deployment of products that support 2.5G and 5GBASE-T Ethernet. The alliance publishes specifications, sponsors and implements interoperability and certification programs, and facilitates consensus for the purpose of finalizing the IEEE 802.3bz standard. The alliance has developed and released the NBASE-T specification that is compatible with the technical baselines defined in the current draft of the IEEE 802.3bz standard. The specification enables member companies to immediately develop and deploy 2.5G and 5GBASE-T products, making use of the large, installed base of copper cabling, such as Cat5e and Cat6, found in enterprise networks, home networks and service providers. The alliance was founded in 2014 and its current board of directors is composed of representatives from Aquantia, Cisco, CME Consulting, Intel, Marvell, NXP and Xilinx. Visit us at nbaset.org or connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.