As demand increases for optics, fiber cables and the 800GE Ethernet interconnects required to build artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-performance computing network infrastructure, the data center interconnect market is on a trajectory for high growth through 2030.
To support that growth, data center providers are focused on several factors, including latency, throughput, streamlining operations, intelligence and security. Testing is critical for manufacturers and the end users of silicon chips, optical transceivers, cables and network equipment, who must trust the products they receive have been stress-tested in a real-world environment that realistically simulates how they will operate in their actual network.
The Interconnect and Network Performance Tester 800GE Benchtop is quiet, portable and energy efficient. Source: Keysight Technologies Inc.Enter Keysight Technologies with a new multiport, multiuser and multispeed portable design and validation platform made to address the unique test requirements of network equipment manufacturers, silicon chips, optics and cables, as well as cloud service providers and data center operators.
Keysight’s Interconnect and Network Performance Tester 800GE Benchtop offers a host of features with its small footprint. The system is lightweight and portable, enabling easy movement within the lab or to another lab. Manufacturers can also transport the system to events or customer sites to demonstrate product testing — something that’s not possible with existing, difficult-to-move rack-mount systems. The system also boasts “office quiet” operation, with an audible noise specification of just 60 decibels.
Available in both two-port and four-port models, the 800GE benchtop also allows operators to run more tests simultaneously with two, three or four users per chassis. Parallel testing optimizes resource utilization and test case throughput and minimizes testing time by covering a wider range of scenarios and configurations to identify bottlenecks and scalability issues — something, again, that’s not possible with existing single-user benchtop systems. The solution can test all Ethernet speeds from 50GE to 800GE PAM4 for layer one through layer three on any port.
Included with the system is Keysight’s IxExplorer software, which provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for hardware management. Operators can use IxNetwork software to simulate authentic, real-world network traffic and control plane protocols. This provides end-to-end test system automation to benchmark performance and scale of layer two and layer three network devices and network protocols.
The platform also leverages the validation and design capabilities of Keysight's AI data center solutions to emulate high-scale workloads, provide insights into collective communication performance, execute defined behavioral models, enable flexible “what-if” scenario testing, and offer prepackaged applications — all of which helps to reduce costs.
