Network News: Broadcom, Dell, HP, Level 3, Ciena

Here’s our review of some of today’s noteworthy links for the networking sector of the data center industry:

Broadcom adds Ethernet Adapters to Dell and HP.  Broadcom (BRCM) announced a new portfolio of Ethernet adapters for Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers.   The company also unveiled a new portfolio of Ethernet LOMs (LAN on motherboard) and adapters for HP's new ProLiant Generation 8 (Gen8) servers. The adapters feature 1GbE and 10GbE NetXtreme controllers and boost  performance, efficiency and scalability of enterprise servers. The adapters for both Dell and HP are available in a variety of dual-port and quad-port network interface cards (NICs), as well as FlexNet cards and mezzanine cards.  "Increasing Internet traffic, cloud computing, virtualization, and new technologies such as Romley/Xeon E5 processors will continue to drive IT managers to seriously evaluate and implement major changes to their network systems," said Benjamin Woo, VP Storage and Big Data at International Data Corporation.  "As that demand rises, so does the need for Ethernet adapters that will enable these managers to meet the needs of multiple networking applications and traffic demands. Broadcom has taken a very significant step forward in advancing their leadership of networking and storage I/O by providing these solutions to OEMs."

Level 3 to suport Microsoft Lync Architecture.  Level 3 Communications (LVLT) announced that its global portfolio of Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) Trunking solutions and infrastructure will be the underpinnings of a Microsoft Lync network environment that allows hosted voice providers to offer Unified Communications (UC) applications to their customers.Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Multitenant Pack is a unified communications hosting solution for telecom and hosting providers. "This offering enables service providers to leverage Level 3's highly scalable network and experience with unified communications, particularly with Lync, to grow their end-user business," said Anthony Christie, chief marketing officer at Level 3. "We're making it easier for our service provider customers to provide a streamlined unified communications experience to their customer base, and Level 3's expertise will help them implement Lync projects on time and within budget." The voice service portfolio from Level 3 offers interconnection and termination options delivered over Level 3's voice network.

Ciena announces WaveLogic 3. Ciena Corporation (CIEN) announced WaveLogic 3, the first software-programmable coherent technology that scales to 400 Gb/s. The WaveLogic 3 adds intelligence to networks with software-programmable technology that enables network operators to constantly monitor optical transmission performance, and rapidly respond to network demands. Able to carry multiple 100G payloads in metro and regional environments the new technology can also deliver up to 30 percent capacity improvements in new flexible grid environments, providing customers with an efficient migration path to Terabit networking. “Ciena's WaveLogic 3 specifications raise the bar in the industry for performance and spectral efficiency. Allowing customers the ability to program the spectral efficiency of 100G coherent optics is a unique feature achieved through unique R&D and not easily duplicated," said Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst for optical at Infonetics Research.  "The ability to double the single carrier capacity of today’s 100G solutions with 16-QAM creates new opportunities for coherent networking in metro and regional applications.”