Interlaken is a royalty-free interconnect protocol.
It was invented by Cisco Systems and Cortina Systems in 2006, optimized for high-bandwidth and reliable packet transfers. It builds on the channelization and per channel flow control features of SPI-4.2, while reducing the number of integrated circuit (chip) I/O pins by using high speed SerDes technology. Bundles of serial links create a logical connection between components with multiple channels, backpressure capability, and data-integrity protection to boost the performance of communications equipment. Interlaken manages speeds of up to 6 Gbit/s per pin (lane) and large numbers of lanes can form an Interlaken interface. It was designed to handle high-speed (10 Gigabit Ethernet, 100 Gigabit Ethernet and beyond) computer network connections.
An alliance was formed in 2007.