Solarflare Communications, the pioneer in 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), announced today it has begun sampling the industry’s first 40nm quad-port 10GBASE-T PHY chip. Solarflare’s fourth-generation PHY, the SFT9104, developed at its labs in Orange County, CA, has passed testing on links up to 100 meters, meeting a critical requirement in the 10GBASE-T standard for broad deployment. Combined with its ultra-low power and unique data center features, the SFT9104 enables a new class of high-density modular switches and servers, setting a new performance and cost point for 10GbE connectivity.

Solarflare’s multi-patented breakthrough architecture delivers industry-leading performance at one-third the power consumption of competitive offerings. Under normal 100 meter operation, the SFT9104 consumes just 2.5 watts per port. The chip has multiple data center power modes including a 1.5 watts ultra-low power and latency mode for in-the-rack applications. The SFT9104 is fully backwards compatible with both 1000BASE-T and 100BASE-TX enabling seamless integration while preserving investments in existing infrastructures.

The SFT9104 is sampling now to key customers and will be in production in Q4 CY2010.

For more information on pricing and availability of Solarflare products, contact productinfo@solarflare.com or visit http://www.solarflare.com.