Momentum Continues to Roll for NBASE-T Technology

by Phil Delansay, NBASE-T Alliance Marketing Working Group Chair, Aquantia Co-founder and Sr. VP Business Development

Last month’s Interop Las Vegas show was abuzz with activity around the latest in new enterprise networking technologies. The show provided the ideal venue for the NBASE-T Alliance to showcase the momentum and growth of NBASE-T technology. With participation from 12 companies including Aquantia, Cavium, Centec Networks, Cisco, CommScope, Fluke, Freescale, Intel, Marvell, Microsemi, Tehuti Networks and Xilinx, the alliance was able to demonstrate a full breadth of end-to-end enterprise solutions.

Hundreds of attendees saw demos of live traffic at 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps over 100m of Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat6A. Systems demonstrated included wireless APs, campus LAN switches, client PCs, NAS and PoE. In fact, more than 200 people came to the NBASE-T booth. The alliance also hosted a cocktail party for 60 people. Both venues gave the alliance the ability to have face-to-face conversations with real users, some of whom were on the fence about using the technology, but after meeting with alliance members, came to see the true value of the technology to their businesses and customers.

The alliance also continues to make progress with press and analysts covering the enterprise networking space, and our appointments with the media at Interop resulted in articles and video coverage.

Probably the most significant sign of alliance momentum has come in the form of rapidly expanding membership. On May 14, the alliance announced that membership has jumped to 34 with the addition of 12 new companies. Some of these companies also participated in the Interop booth.

These activities are a significant step in building momentum for both the alliance so that we can drive industry collaboration and standardization for 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T.