Ixia: 40/100G Test Equipment
FPGA-based 100-Gbps test module generates and captures full-line-rate data.
Traffic on the Internet backbone is increasing at a rate that ranges between 75 and 125 percent each year. The next advancements are 40- and 100-Gbps Ethernet (GE), and test equipment maker Ixia is enabling that development via the K2, the first 100-Gbps-capable test set.
Ixia broke new ground when it first demonstrated the 100 GE Development Acceleration System. Ixia now has a production version of the technology: a module simply called K2 that integrates the high-speed functionality.
The module occupies two slots in any Ixia standard XM test chassis. And like all Ixia products, it works at full line rate regardless of packet size. The module can simultaneously generate, capture and analyze Layer 3 to 7 traffic. The company also offers a 40 GE traffic generator and analyzer load module.
The K2 design relies extensively on Xilinx FPGAs. The reprogrammable nature of FPGAs is essential in a design that must track a changing standard. The Ixia design pushes the limits of the FPGAs in terms of memory and I/O access speeds as well as internal clock speed. The result is the first 100-Gbps test module—available more than a year prior to completion of the standard.
Additional Information
- Excerpts taken from the article, “100/40-Gbps Test Set Helps Repave Info Superhighway,” in Xcell Customer Innovation 2010