100 GbE standard ratified

The IEEE 802.3ba 40Gbps and 100Gbps Ethernet standard has been ratified by the IEEE P802.3ba 40Gbps and 100Gbps Ethernet Task Force, reports The Register.

"Ubiquitous adoption of bandwidth-intensive technologies and applications, such as converged network services, video-on-demand, and social networking, is producing rapidly increasing demand for higher-rate throughput," said the Task Force's chair, John D'Ambrosia, in a statement.

One beneficiary of the standardisation of 802.3ba will be 10Gbps Ethernet. As 802.3ba interconnects find their way into data centres, those relatively 'slow' 10Gbps Ethernet streams will find plenty of bandwidth for aggregation.

The outsourced business processes company Xchanging is paying £6.5 million for Data Integration (DI), a UK networking, security and communication technology provider, with a further £2.5 million liable to be paid through earn out clauses, according to Sharecast.

Xchanging said the acquisition will strengthen its technology capabilities in network managed services and establish a reseller platform, and also bring a strategic customer base in the UK through its existing network of managed service contracts.

The two companies have already worked together in the past on business process outsourcing services for claims handling on the London insurance market.

The London Grid for Learning (LGfL), the world's largest fibre network for education purposes, has upgraded its data centre network with a high-performance infrastructure from Juniper, including routing, switching and security solutions, says Market Watch.

The upgraded network enables LGfL to provide bandwidth-rich multimedia teaching and learning services, including videoconferencing with museums and specialist learning centres; content streaming; and online managed learning resources to all 2 600 primary and secondary schools in greater London.

"To ensure we remain at the forefront of online education, LGfL needed a high-performance data centre network to deliver state-of-the-art academic services at scale into the classroom and the staff room across 2 600 locations," said Brian Durrant, CEO, LGfL.