Based on its recent analysis of the blade network switches market, Frost & Sullivan presents Blade Network Technologies Inc. (BNT) with the 2008 North American Product Innovation of the Year Award.

The Award specifically recognizes BNT’s innovative development of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) blade switches that will help data centers improve their efficiency and performance. The company developed this 10GE blade switch technology for virtualization and server consolidation, bandwidth-intensive and high performance applications.

Ethernet has always been a top choice for the task of supporting network connectivity solutions. However, the insufficiency of high-performance Ethernet products prevented a cost-effective cluster computing approach to leverage Ethernet.

In order to maintain their performance, servers are forced to use middleware for interconnection, which adds more cost and complexity to the overall solution. Another problem was that packets were lost during transmission, which further reduced throughput.

To address these issues BNT developed its high-performance 10GE switch that enables clustered networks to interconnect their servers without affecting overall performance. Compared to 1G Ethernet, 10G Ethernet does not vary much in terms of compatibility and migration but it does provide 10X more bandwidth at a lower cost.

“Specifically, BNT’s solution improves throughput by about 50 percent when compared to other offerings, and reduces host CPU utilization to boost system performance,” says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Venkat Malleypula. “It essentially enables a converged network fabric consisting of data and storage.”

10G Ethernet is considered a major breakthrough as it can aid in virtualization and server consolidation and benefit low latency/high bandwidth applications such as high performance computing, iSCSI-based Storage Area Networks, massive multiplayer online gaming and High-Definition IPTV.

In particular, BNT’s product innovation would benefit next generation networking. The BNT 10G Ethernet switch can enhance the power and cooling efficiencies of overloaded data centers.

“Additionally, as virtualization becomes a reality it gives the luxury of having better storage utilization and improved servers,” notes Malleypula. “Blade Network Technologies is thereby making the technology extendable to areas such as Voice over IP (VoIP), Video on Demand (VOD), as well as revolutionary Internet models such YouTube and MySpace.”

Blade Network Technologies is a true innovation-oriented company. Nearly half of its 120 employees are in Engineering and R&D, and the company has established global research and development facilities with centers in Romania and Canada.

The company has OEM relationships with IBM BladeCenter, HP BladeSystem and NEC SigmaBlade, and collaborates with other leading players such as Broadcom, NetXen, Chelsio, and NetEffect who have helped it develop its breakthrough 10GE technology.

Not surprisingly, BNT has experienced robust growth and is estimated to have a 44 percent share in its market.

Due to the superior performance of the BNT 10GE switch and its ability to adapt to the growing demands of the storage networking industry, Frost & Sullivan is proud to recognize Blade Network Technologies with the 2008 Award for Product Innovation.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this Award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within its industry. The recipient company has shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.