As part of the roll-out of mGig (IEEE 802.11bz), Aquantia have launched network interface cards for the workstation market. These offer 2.5Gb/s and 5Gb/s connections using existing cables. (See Multi-Gigabit Ethernet is here for details).
Aquantia has launched two NICs that support this technology for the high-end PC market. The AQtion (pronounced “acktion”, perhaps?) AQN-108 supports up to 5Gb/s using the 802.11bz standard. The AQtion AQN-107 adds to this capability by also supporting 10Gb/s over Cat 6A cable, using the IEEE 802.3an standard. The AQN-108 use a PCIe Gen3 x1 connection, the AQN-107 needs the extra bandwidth from a PCIe Gen3 x4 connection. Drivers support Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7. Linux kernels 3.2, 3.10, 3.12, 4.2 and 4.4 are supported.
Previously this technology has only been available in switches and Wi-Fi access-points. As Aquantia is the only vendor of 802.11bz silicon, they are looking at expanding the marketplace. Driving end-point density up is good for them. They sell two chips for each connection, one at the switch, and one for the end-device.
Broadcom AVGO 630,12 +19,96 +3,27% and Marvell MRVL 39,48 +0,85 +2,20% can offer alternative mGig silicon. Expect the number of switches and cards available to start to rise. Currently Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. 47,10 +0,39 +0,83% has broad mGig support with their Catalyst 4500 cards, Catalyst 3850 and Catalyst C3650 switches. Netgear’s Unfortunately, we could not get stock quote NASDAQ:NTGR this time. Prosafe M4200 switch provides 8 ports of mGig. Aruba’s 3810 and 5400R switches from Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE 14,32 +0,06 +0,42% also support mGig.
Product briefs for the AQtion AQN-107 and AQtion AQN-108 are available.
Thanks to Venturebeat for the heads up: Aquantia’s chips will enable blazing fast local area network games. They obviously are looking at the advantage this will give elite gamers with reduced latency, as every nanosecond counts.