Scandinavia-based ethernet test solutions developer Xena Networks has announced the first units of their 112Gbps SerDes-based 800 Gigabit Ethernet test modules – known as “Freya” – will ship in June to early adopters
This is in line with the company’s ambitious plan to roll out the new range of high-speed ethernet test modules over the coming months.
“Being first to market with an 800GE test solution is a proud moment for Xena,” acknowledged Jacob Nielsen, CEO of Xena Networks.
The demand for video streaming and the growth of data centers are two key factors driving the demand for even faster ethernet speeds.
“The current top speed of 400Gbps was only launched a couple of years ago, but there is already massive interest in the Ethernet Consortium’s standard for the new 800Gbps and 1.6 terabit per second speeds now being worked on,” explaind Jacob Nielsen. “Our customers can use Freya to validate the conformance, performance and integrity of any networking devices and semiconductors designed to run 800G Ethernet before they reach the market.”
Xena aims to speed up the development of Freya thanks to design architecture decisions such as choosing the Versal Premium FPGA from Xilinx, Inc., with its native 112 Gbps PAM4 SerDes integration. This eliminated the need for separate PHY-chips, giving Xena more design flexibility and a faster development cycle.
Manuel Uhm, director of Silicon Marketing, Xilinx, added, “With Xilinx’s leading Versal ACAP portfolio that blends the flexibility of an FPGA along with the power and performance benefits by using hardened logic for key infrastructure on the device, we are pleased to see its successful deployment within Xena’s Freya test modules.”
