XKL

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

American company that develops optical transport network technologies

title: "XKL" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-companies-established-in-1991"] description: "American company that develops optical transport network technologies" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKL" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American company that develops optical transport network technologies ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

FieldValue
nameXKL, LLC
logoXKL logo.svg
typePrivate
founderLen Bosack
area_servedWorldwide
key_peopleLen Bosack and Sandra Lerner
industryTelecommunications
Optical networking
Computer Networking
productsDarkstar Optical Network Hardware
homepage
foundation
location_cityRedmond, Washington
location_countryU.S.A
::

|name = XKL, LLC |logo = XKL logo.svg |type = Private |traded_as = |founder = Len Bosack |area_served = Worldwide |key_people = Len Bosack and Sandra Lerner |industry = Telecommunications Optical networking Computer Networking |products = Darkstar Optical Network Hardware |revenue = |operating_income = |net_income = |assets = |equity = |num_employees = |divisions = |homepage = |caption = |foundation = |location_city = Redmond, Washington |location_country = U.S.A |subsidiaries =

XKL, LLC is an American company that develops optical transport networking technologies. Founded in 1991 and based in Redmond, Washington, XKL is led by Cisco Systems co-founder Len Bosack.

History of XKL

In its earliest days XKL developed, and in 1995 introduced, the TOAD-1, a compact, modern replacement for PDP-10 systems, mainframe computer systems that had gone out of production.

Products

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/XKL_Toad_1.jpg" caption="TOAD-1 unit on display at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle, WA"] ::

Current products

Products include transponder, muxponder, mux/demux (multiplexing/demultiplexing) and (optical) amplifier models.

DarkStar DQT10 Transponder

Supports 12, 24 or 36 10G channels.

DarkStar DQT100 Transponder

Aggregates up to 96 100G channels onto a single pair of fibers.

DarkStar DQT400 Transponder

Aggregates up to 48 100G / 400G channels

DarkStar DQM100 Muxponder

Aggregates up to 12 100G channels via statistical multiplexing.

DarkStar DQM10 Muxponder

Aggregates up to 36 10G channels.

DarkStar DSM10-10 Muxponder

Aggregates up to 100G services.

DarkStar DXM

First released in 2007, the Darkstar DXM is a high-performance optical switch first installed at the California Institute of Technology as part of their Supercomputing Bandwidth Challenge. It provides 5 times the bandwidth, in excess of 100 Gigabits/sec, than the existing system but is also smaller and uses less power.

Historical products

TOAD-1

The TOAD-1 System, also known as TD-1,The TOAD-1 was referred to as the TOAD as a development codename and then changed to the TD-1 as the original marketing name. It was then switched back to TOAD-1 before production began. was announced in 1993 and built as an extended version of the DECSYSTEM-20 from Digital Equipment Corporation. The original inspiration was to build a desktop version of the popular PDP-10 and the name began as an acronym for "Ten On A Desk". It was eventually built at XKL by veteran engineers from Cisco, DEC, Hewlett-Packard, and CDC.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/XKL_TOAD2_Logo.jpg" caption="Living Computer Museum]] in [[Seattle, Washington]]."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/XKL_TOAD_2.jpg" caption="Living Computer Museum]] in [[Seattle, Washington]]."] ::

It was the first XKL product produced and it became available for purchase in late 1995. The TOAD-1 is a high-performance I/O oriented system with a 36-bit processor running TOPS-20. It is multi-user system that can provide service to over 100 users at a time. The TOAD-1 architecture incorporates modern peripherals, and open bus architecture, expanded physical and virtual memory while maintaining the TOPS-20 user environment.

TOAD-2

The TOAD-2 was built to replace the TOAD-1. It is a single chip reimplementation used as redundant control processors in networking equipment from XKL. It can be configured for TOPS-20 timesharing.

Notes

References

  • {{Cite web |url=http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/42322 |title=Cisco founder wants to go faster, farther |publisher=Network World |access-date=2009-06-01 |last=Duffy |first=Jim |archive-date=2009-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612234617/http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/42322 |url-status=dead

  • {{Cite web |url=http://www.glgroup.com/News/Len-Bosack-and-XKL-introduce--Do-It-Yourself--optical-networking-15028.html |title=Len Bosack and XKL introduce "Do It Yourself Optical Networking" |publisher=GLG Group |access-date=2007-08-08

  • {{Cite web |url=http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=178797 |title=Cisco Founder Pushes for DIY Optical Networks |publisher=Light Reading |access-date=2009-07-03

  • {{Cite web |url=http://www.tmcnet.com/tmc/videos/default.aspx?vid=3080&title=XKL+LLC+ITEXPO+West+2010 |title= Len Bosack speaks with Erik Linask at ITEXPO |publisher=TMCNet |access-date=2010-10-06

References

  1. "XKL Flier".
  2. "LCM+L - XKL TOAD-1 System". Living Computers: Museum + Labs.
  3. (6 October 2009). "XKL, LLC: XKL Supports Caltech in Supercomputing '08 Bandwidth Challenge".
  4. "Exhibits - Living Computer Museum".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

american-companies-established-in-1991