CALIENT Optical Circuit Switch Brings Sub-60ns Latency to Data Center & Financial Networks

Recent tests show S320 cuts latency by 60% in data center networks; switch also supports high frequency trading and supercomputing networks

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CALIENT Technologies, Inc., the global leader in photonic switching technology, today announced that its S320 optical circuit switch delivers sub-60 nanosecond (ns) packet-streaming latency performance, according to recent tests.

“This latency testing clearly demonstrates the advantages of optical circuit switching, in several fast-growing applications”

CALIENT announced the latency figures in conjunction with its participation at the 2012 High-Speed Computing for Wall Street conference (booth 316) today at the Roosevelt Hotel.

60-Percent Data Center Latency Improvement

The ultra-low latency figure makes the S320 a viable alternative for building data center network fabrics where server virtualization and web applications drive increased traffic and dynamically changing traffic patterns that can overload networks, thereby increasing latency and lowering application performance. In financial data centers, low-latency networks are crucial to the profitability of high-speed, automated trading applications.

The S320 can be used to build large, scalable data center network fabrics interconnecting servers, top-of-rack switches, and core routers with dynamically reconfigurable topologies based on real-time bandwidth and application demands. In one use-case test, the S320 was able to reduce server-to-server latency across clusters by 4.64 microseconds or 60 percent when compared to standard IP switches.

The latency testing was performed with commercially available test and networking equipment. Latency tests were executed based upon RFC2544 benchmark testing with frame sizes of 64 KB, 300 KB and 1,518 KB.

The tests were conducted using manually activated S320 circuit management software. CALIENT is planning an OpenFlow API for early next year that will allow the S320 to be controlled by a flow-aware SDN management and control plane.

“This latency testing clearly demonstrates the advantages of optical circuit switching, in several fast-growing applications,” said Atiq Raza, Chairman and CEO of CALIENT. “The ability to reduce latency and increase / decrease needed bandwidth on demand clearly proves the power that a dynamic layer-one fabric can bring to data center architectures.”

CALIENT’s S320 Optical Circuit Switch

The Calient S320 optical circuit switch provides the industry’s highest port count and reliability in a small form factor with extremely low power consumption. The MEMS core of the S320 uses CALIENT’s three-dimensional array of silicon micro mirrors to switch up to 320 incoming fiber optic signals from any port to any of the 320 output ports.

About CALIENT Technologies

Headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., CALIENT Technologies is the global leader in adaptive photonic switching with systems that enable dynamic optical layer optimization in next generation data centers and software defined networks. CALIENT’s 3D MEMS switches have demonstrated years of reliability, with eight years of successful continuous operation. With more than 80,000 optical terminations shipped, CALIENT has one of the largest installed bases of photonic switches worldwide. For more information visit us at http://www.calient.net or contact us at [e-mail].