Broadcom introduced its next-generation, StrataXGS “Tomahawk” switch, packing 2 Tbps of switching performance in a single chip that is capable of supporting 32 ports of 100 Gigabit Ethernet, 64 ports of 40GE/50GE or 128 ports of 25GE.
The new chip, which represents the 7th generation of Broadcom Ethernet switching silicon, is designed for the programmable fabrics needed in next-gen, cloud-scale data centers.
The StrataXGS Tomahawk Series is powered by more than 7 billion integrated transistors in 28nm. It supports new 25GE and 50GE protocol standards, and is the first chip to scale to 32-ports of 100G on a single device.
Significantly, Tomahawk implements Broadcom’s FLEXGS and Smart-Flow technology, enabling the switch to be software configured for specific policies while preserving deterministic latency. The new design brings a 12X increase in application policy scale compared to previous generation switches, along with increased flexibility of packet lookups and key generation, and rich load balancing and traffic redirection controls. This supports an extensive suite of user configurable functions for flow processing, security, network virtualization, measurement/monitoring, congestion management and traffic engineering.
“Our StrataXGS Tomahawk Series will usher in the next wave of data centers running 25G and 100G Ethernet, while delivering the network visibility required to operate large-scale cloud computing, storage and HPC fabrics,” said Rajiv Ramaswami, Broadcom Executive Vice President, Infrastructure & Networking Group. “This is the culmination of a multi-year cooperative effort with our partners and customers to prepare for this transition. We are pleased to see significant industry investment in the Tomahawk 32x100GE form factor as well as the 25G/50G Ethernet specification, which Broadcom defined and co-founded as an industry standard.”
StrataXGS Tomahawk Key Features
- 3.2 Tbps multilayer Ethernet switching
- Integrated low-power 25Ghz SERDES
- Authoritative support for 25G and 50G Ethernet Consortium specification
- Configurable pipeline latency enabling sub 400ns port-to-port operation
- Supports high performance storage/RDMA protocols including RoCE and RoCEv2
- BroadView instrumentation: provides switch- and network-level telemetry
- High-density FleXGS flow processing for configurable forwarding/match/action capabilities
- OpenFlow 1.3+ support using Broadcom OF-DPA
- Comprehensive overlay and tunneling support including VXLAN, NVGRE, MPLS, SPB
- Flexible policy enforcement for existing and new virtualization protocols
- Enhanced Smart-Hash™ load balancing modes for leaf-spine congestion avoidance
- Integrated Smart-Buffer™ technology with 5X greater performance versus static buffering
- Single-chip and multi-chip HiGig™ solutions for top-of-rack and scalable chassis applications
The device is currently sampling to lead customers and cloud providers.
http://www.broadcom.com/press/release.php?id=s872349
In this 9-minute video interview, Nick Ilyadis, VP/CTO of the Networking Products Group at Broadcom, discusses the evolution of data center switching.
Key topics covered include:
00:08 – How are data center traffic patterns changing due to Big Data apps and scale-out clouds?
01:05 – How will data center networking evolve to accommodate cloud services across the WAN?
02:48 – What is the case for 25G/50G Ethernet?
04:10 – How do you see the NFV ecosystem emerging?
07:08 – What does the current trajectory of cloud services and hyper-scale data centers tell you about the future of switching?
08:28 – What’s next for Broadcom?
In April 2014, Broadcom expanded its XLP II multi-core communications processors family designed for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) equipment. The XLP500 processor features 32 NXCPUs with an innovative quad-issue, quad-threaded superscalar architecture with out-of-order execution for 80 Gbps performance. The processor supports Broadcom’s Open NFV platform provides seamless interoperability with Broadcom’s StrataXGS Switch Series.
XLP500 Series Key Features:
- Optimized driver and tight integration with Broadcom’s FASTPATH software enables seamless interoperability with Broadcom’s StrataXGS Switch Series
- Support for Broadcom’s Open NFV platform enables seamless migration of virtual functions independent of Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs)
- Full end-to-end virtualization of CPUs memory, I/Os and acceleration engines
- Integrated autonomous acceleration engines support a broad range of applications such as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), encryption, network acceleration and storage
- Configurable pool of high performance multi-core processors along with application-specific engines accelerates advanced networking and security functions in a virtualized environment
- Supports open-source virtualization platforms such as KVM, QEMU and OVS
- Integrated high speed I/Os including 40GEs, 10GEs, GE, HiGig2 and Interlaken
- Dedicated lanes for PCIE Gen3.0 and SATA3.0
In August 2012, Broadcom introduced its new StrataXGS Trident II Series Ethernet switching chip designed for extremely dense, cloud-scale data centers. The design brought 2X greater forwarding density, a 4X increase in network virtualization scale, and the ability to deliver 100 10GbE ports for massive scale in top-of-rack or aggregation switches. Uplink capabilities in the flexibility to support up to 32 40GbE ports.
With this release, the company also introduced SmartSwitch” technologies, including
- Smart-NV: Delivers up to 4X greater scale, enabling SDN virtualization across both virtual and physical workloads at wire-speed. Enables cloud-scale network infrastructure virtualization using advanced Layer 2 over Layer 3 (L2oL3) network virtualization technologies such as NVGRE and VXLAN.
- Smart-Buffer: Delivers up to 5X higher packet buffer utilization and burst absorption performance using innovative traffic load-based intelligent and dynamic allocation schemes.
- Smart-Table: Delivers highest Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding scale with network topology-based profiling for maximum deployment flexibility.
- Smart-Hash: Eliminates polarization and load imbalances in fat-tree networks possessing heavy and diverse traffic patterns. Provides unprecedented network traffic visibility and diagnostics required by software defined networking.
Sampling of the StrataXGS Trident II Series is expected this quarter with multiple device options.