Voltaire Launches New Low-Latency Layer 2/3 Switch For Next Generation Data Centers and Cloud Computing

Voltaire, a provider of scale-out data center fabrics, announced the immediate availability of the Voltaire Vantage 6024, a low-latency, high-performance Layer 2/3 top-of-rack switch optimized for next generation and virtualized data centers and cloud computing environments.

Voltaire says the switch provides power-efficient and lowest latency capabilities on 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and also supports converged enhanced Ethernet (CEE) capabilities enabling the consolidation of multiple network tiers and fabrics. This significantly reduces infrastructure expenses, according to the vendor.

Collocation is very expensive for people getting the space. The 6024 allows them to get rid of the two box environment, where they have one box for the router and one box for the switch,” says Asaf Somekh, VP of marketing at Voltaire. “So now you have one box that does both Layer 2 and 3. It’s faster and cheaper than having a two-box environment.” Lucinda Borovick, research VP, Datacenter Networks, IDC, points out that data center network architectures are in the midst of a ‘dramatic change’.

“[They are] moving towards flat, scale-out 10 GbE fabrics designed for performance, efficiency and virtual machine mobility,” Borovick said. “Solutions such as Voltaire Vantage 10 GbE switches and UFM software enable these new architectures and also provide virtual machine awareness on the network.” Voltaire also announced what it has termed the industry’s first turnkey 10 GbE switching and software infrastructure solution for low latency trading. The solution is comprised of the Voltaire Vantage 6024 switch, Voltaire Messaging Accelerator™ (VMA) software, network interface cards and cables.

The vendor said it is ideal for co-located low latency trading and smaller high-frequency trading environments where one rack handles the full trading operations.

Voltaire also offers VMA software for 20-40 Gb/s InfiniBand fabrics, which continue to deliver the lowest latencies – as much as 30% lower than Ethernet-based solutions, the company said.

Voltaire recently announced its VMA software and low latency InfiniBand fabric is to be used in the next-generation equities trading platform to be deployed at Singapore Exchange (SGX). On May 7, 2010, SGX conducted a benchmark test with Voltaire its partners at the HP Capacity Planning Centre in Singapore and achieved a record-breaking, average order response time of less than 90 microseconds door-to-door, Voltaire said, adding that this will provide customers with the fastest execution capability in the world. “There’s competition between different exchanges. You never think of this part of the equation; you think of algo traders competing with human traders, but you don’t generally think of exchanges competing with each other,” says Voltaire’s Somekh. “But you have to deal with response time. You have many exchanges competing. You have to fast trading engines. SGX wanted to build the fastest exchange, and they achieved that.”

Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio