IEEE Std 802.3 enables several different Ethernet speeds for Local Area Network (LAN) applications, and 25 Gb/s is the latest addition to the standard. The capability to interconnect devices at 25 Gb/s Ethernet rates becomes especially relevant for next-generation data center networks where:
- To keep up with increasing CPU and storage bandwidth, rack or blade servers need to support aggregate throughputs faster than 10 Gb/s (single lane) or 20 Gb/s (dual lane) from their Network Interface Card (NIC) or LAN-on-Motherboard (LOM) networking ports;
- Given the increased bandwidth to endpoints, uplinks from Top-of-Rack (TOR) or Blade switches need to transition from 40 Gb/s (four lanes) to 100 Gb/s (four lanes) while ideally maintaining the same per-lane breakout capability;
- (Due to the expected adoption of 100GBASE-CR4/KR4/SR4/LR4, SerDes and cabling technologies are already being developed and deployed to support 25 Gb/s per physical lane, twisted pair, or fiber.