Broadcom Extends Leadership with New StrataXGS Trident II Switch Series Optimized for Cloud-Scale Data Center Networks

Press release:

Broadcom Extends Leadership with New StrataXGS Trident II Switch Series Optimized for Cloud-Scale Data Center Networks

World's Highest Density, Feature-Rich 10/40GbE Switch with VXLAN Support Delivers 4X Network Virtualization Scale

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 

News Highlights:

• World's first single chip to deliver more than 100 10GbE ports 
• 2X  greater forwarding density enables massive network infrastructure scaling
• Scales to support tens of thousands of server and virtual machine endpoints in multi-tenant environments
• Integrated SmartSwitch technologies deliver unprecedented innovation for cloud-scale networking

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120827/SF62960)

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today introduced the StrataXGS® Trident II Series, a new line of Ethernet switching solutions optimized to meet the bandwidth, scalability and efficiency demands of cloud networking environments and mega data centers. Visitwww.broadcom.com to learn more.

Based on Broadcom's award winning StrataXGS architecture, the new 10/40 GbE series is the first to deliver more than 100 10GbE ports, a 4X increase in network virtualization scale and a 2X increase in forwarding and classification tables, enabling a significant return on investment on private and multi-tenant public cloud computing infrastructure connectivity.

Public and private cloud, Web 2.0 and other high-bandwidth data center applications are driving the need for higher scale and efficiency in the data center. Broadcom's StrataXGS Trident II Series delivers the most complete network switching feature set at the highest bandwidth and port density in the industry, enabling cost-effective and high performance data center build-out to an unprecedented number of server and storage endpoints, applications and users.  

Fast, Fat and Flat Networks with New SmartSwitch Technologies

The StrataXGS Trident II Series features new SmartSwitch technologies designed to break through traditional silicon and system-imposed performance barriers in cloud-scale networking. Increased performance needs for server-to-server and server-to-storage communication are driving the need for fast, fat and flat networks. Dynamic workload placement and the need for granular traffic visibility, load balancing and diagnostics are similarly driving more flexible software defined networks (SDN). The new SmartSwitch technologies include:

• 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. 

 Market Drivers

• Annual global data center IP traffic will reach 4.8 zettabytes by 2015¹
• Overall cloud IP traffic will grow at a CAGR of 66 percent from 2012 - 2015¹
  • Predicted to account for more than one-third (34 percent) of total data center traffic¹
• Public cloud workloads expected to grow at a 50 percent CAGR from 2012 - 2015²
• 40 percent of servers are virtualized today and are projected to reach 75 percent by 2015³
• Data center 10GE ports projected to grow at a 40 percent CAGR from 2012 -  2016⁴
  • 40GE ports projected to grow at a 130 percent CAGR of from 2012 - 2016⁴

StrataXGS Trident II Key Features

• Enables unprecedented 10/40GbE single chip switch configurations
• 100+ 10GbE ports with flexibility to support up to 32 40GbE ports
• First integrated switch delivers NVGRE and VXLAN L2oL3 transit and gateway switch technologies
• Supports industry's highest equal cost multipathing-based fat-tree networking scale on a single chip
• Greater FCoE network scale enabling true LAN/SAN convergence — up to 4X increase in forwarding entries
• High port density with direct attach to SFP+/QSFP modules and KR Backplanes
• Integrated IEEE 1588 1-step timing solution
  • Delivers 40 percent reduction in bill of material costs and 30 percent better phase accuracy

Availability

The StrataXGS Trident II Series includes multiple device options and is sampling this quarter. See Broadcom's full line of solutions for cloud-scale networking this week at VMworld® 2012, Moscone Center, San Francisco (booth #2107).

For ongoing Broadcom news visit our Newsroom, read our B-Connected Blog, or visit us on Facebook or Twitter. And to stay connected, subscribe to our RSS Feed.

Ram Velaga, Vice President & General Manager, Core Switch, Broadcom "Our StrataXGS switch solutions are renowned throughout the industry for driving unsurpassed performance levels and cost metrics in data center, service provider and enterprise network environments. Our latest StrataXGS Trident II Series — a follow-on to the highly successful Trident series of single chip switch solutions — delivers unprecedented innovation with new features optimized to meet the performance, scalability and efficiency demands of both the traditional enterprise and emerging mega data centers, enabling a new era in cloud-scale and software defined networking."

Industry Quotes:

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)

Christophe Metivier, Vice President, Manufacturing and Platform Engineering, Arista Networks"Arista has long partnered with Broadcom to deliver market leading switch products designed for scale, flexibility and ease of management that today's cloud networks require.  With the introduction of Broadcom's newest StrataXGS Trident II, we are excited about the integration of key features needed by today's software defined cloud networking, flexible load balancing, large table scale and higher switching capacities."

Liam Kiely, Vice President of R&D, Avaya Networking"Unprecedented demand for online content coupled with ever increasing cluster computing demands in the cloud has driven data centers to increasing scale, flexibility and levels of virtualization.  Avaya plans to power these next generation data centers with leading Avaya Ethernet switches utilizing Broadcom's new StrataXGS Trident II family."

Arpit Joshipura, Vice President, Dell"Broadcom continues to set the bar for state-of-the-art Ethernet switching technology with impressive 10GE scale with critical new features for the virtualized data center. Dell plans to be one of the first to offer customers the StrataXGS Trident II series that will enable next-generation Dell networking products designed for large-scale cloud and enterprise data centers."

Nadeem Zahid, Director of Product Management, Extreme Networks"We are seeing significant demand from next generation data centers that benefit from Extreme Networks' switches capable of virtualized, multi-tenant and flexible network architectures.  Broadcom technology has successfully powered Extreme's leading Ethernet switch portfolio to meet or exceed the stringent requirements and the new StrataXGS Trident II promises to again deliver."

Henry Cao (Cao Xiangying), Chief Operation Officer, Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co., Ltd."Broadcom's Trident family of chips provides a superior comprehensive solution for H3C data center switches, and supports H3C's "Move to the Cloud" data center network strategy. We look forward to continuing our strategic collaboration in campus LAN and data center innovation to provide our customers with the advanced technology they need to deliver a faster and more reliable network experience."

Koichiro Seto, General Manager, Core Technology Development, Information System Product Division,Hitachi Cable"Broadcom continues to lead with impressive single-chip Ethernet switch silicon with ever increasing bandwidth with key features like VXLAN, Ethernet Fabric, Smart-NV and Smart-Hash technology to address the ever increasing needs of virtualized cloud scale networking. Hitachi Cable is excited to continue the close partnership with Broadcom's newest StrataXGS Trident II series of products to deliver market leading switch platforms for service provider, enterprise and data center markets."

End Users and Software Platform Vendors

Kitty Pang (Junying Pang), Chief Datacenter Architect, Alibaba Group"High density 10 and 40GbE switches with leading network virtualization, table scale, network visibility and congestion management features enable cloud operators to deliver next generation cloud services. The significantly high level of silicon integration and comprehensive data center feature set available in Broadcom's StrataXGS data center switch portfolio is being further enhanced by the StrataXGS Trident II switch series, enabling high price-performance values demanded by cloud scale networking."

Mansour Karam, Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Alliance, Big Switch Networks"As data centers grow at an unprecedented pace, customers are looking for solutions that enable choice and interoperability in their data centers. Big Switch Networks is pleased to collaborate with Broadcom on the StrataXGS Trident II series especially designed for data center network switch equipment. Interoperability and co-existence with virtual and physical switches is core to both companies' strategy around open network virtualization solutions."

Ross Ortega, Principal Program Manager, Windows Networking, Microsoft Corporation "Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization with NVGRE provides scalable multi-tenancy and provides new capabilities such as seamless workload mobility in multi-tenant and mega-datacenter environments. Connecting physical and virtualized workloads and legacy servers to new network virtualized services is equally important; the StrataXGS Trident II switch series implements NVGRE gateway capabilities to facilitate such connectivity, delivering cloud scale network virtualization."  

Allwyn Sequeira, CTO & Vice President, Cloud Networking & Security, VMware"Software-defined networking will provide organizations with greater flexibility and higher resource utilization in private, hybrid and public cloud deployments. Broadcom's SmartSwitch technology innovations and support for VXLAN in their StrataXGS Trident II switch series complements VMware's vision of software defined network virtualization."  

Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs)

Samuel Chang, President, Accton"Accton has partnered with Broadcom to develop a diverse, low cost, SDN capable switch portfolio optimized for virtualized private and public clouds.  With the release of the StrataXGS Trident II series, Accton will introduce the industry's first modular, 1RU switch capable of delivering up to 32 ports of 40GbE in a unique design that supports network processor modules and future higher speed interfaces to meet evolving data center requirements."

Harrison Chang, President, Alpha Networks, Inc."Alpha Networks has worked closely with Broadcom for the last 10+ years to proudly present a very comprehensive Ethernet switch portfolio that has achieved breakthroughs in the global market. Together with Broadcom, Alpha Networks will continue to pioneer Ethernet switch market trends providing a broad range of solutions and integration services and leading the world towards excellent networking."

Victor Cheng, CEO, Delta Networks Inc."DNI is committed to provide world class Ethernet switch products with a focus on quality, superior features, power efficiency and competitive cost.  Broadcom's latest StrataXGS Trident II switch series is the perfect switch silicon that exceeds our stringent requirements and we're excited to provide the first high density 96-Port 10G ToR Switch withBroadcom to offer best-in-class solutions to drive next generation cloud scale networks." 

Industry Analysts

Seamus Crehan, President, Crehan Research"Developments such as virtualization, cloud computing, and network consolidation have all contributed to unprecedented demands on datacenter switches. This is evidenced by the recent stellar growth in 10GbE and 40GbE datacenter switches where Broadcom's existing Trident series has been a major driver.  Now with the enablement of even greater port densities at higher speeds, in addition to important and exciting new datacenter features, system vendors, OEMs and cloud providers will be able to address ever-increasing datacenter network demands."

Sam Barnett, Directing Analyst, Data Center & Cloud, Infonetics Research"Service providers, telcos and Internet content providers around the world have embraced the cloud concept in earnest and are heavily investing in new infrastructure, building on their existing networks to add a range of cloud-based services. Network virtualization and switch forwarding features that can scale to support a large number of servers and users are among the top requirements. Broadcom's latest innovation for cloud-scale networks should further strengthen the company's position as a leading supplier in this space."

Jag Bolaria, Senior Analyst, Linley Group"Higher data rates, energy efficient design and cost pressures are paramount considerations for IT professionals as they scale the network to support the massive number of connected devices and bandwidth hungry applications in the cloud.Broadcom is undisputedly one of the overall leading suppliers of Ethernet switches and continues to deliver technology optimized for next generation networks."

Resources:
Cloud-Scale Networking Feature Page
¹ Cisco, Cloud Index, 2010 — 2015
² Morgan Stanley, Cloud Computing Takes Off, 2012
³ Gartner, Network World "Virtual Desktops are All the Rage", December 2011
⁴ Dell'Oro, Ethernet Switch Forecast, May 2012

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a FORTUNE 500® company, is a global leader and innovator in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom® products seamlessly deliver voice, video, data and multimedia connectivity in the home, office and mobile environments. With the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and embedded software solutions, Broadcom is changing the world by Connecting everything®. For more information, go to www.broadcom.com.

News Release from IBM - Holey Optochip

Made in IBM Labs: Holey Optochip First to Transfer One Trillion Bits of Information per Second Using the Power of Light

• Researchers invent novel technique by fabricating tiny holes in a single quarter-inch chip to boost data transfer rates
• Until now, it was not possible to transport terabits of data for existing parallel optical communications technology
• New prototype compactly and efficiently delivers ultra-high interconnect bandwidth to power future supercomputer and data center applications

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LOS ANGELES - 08 Mar 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) scientists today will report on a prototype optical chipset, dubbed “Holey Optochip”, that is the first parallel optical transceiver to transfer one trillion bits – one terabit – of information per second, the equivalent of downloading 500 high definition movies. The report will be presented at the Optical Fiber Communication Conferencetaking place in Los Angeles.

With the ability to move information at blazing speeds – eight times faster than parallel optical components available today – the breakthrough could transform how data is accessed, shared and used for a new era of communications, computing and entertainment. The raw speed of one transceiver is equivalent to the bandwidth consumed by 100,000 users at today’s typical 10 Mb/s high-speed internet access. Or, it would take just around an hour to transfer the entire U.S. Library of Congress web archive through the transceiver.  

Progress in optical communications is being driven by an explosion of new applications and services as the amount of data being created and transmitted over corporate and consumer networks continues to grow. At one terabit per second, IBM’s latest advance in optical chip technology provides unprecedented amounts of bandwidth that could one day ship loads of data such as posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos posted online, sensors used to gather climate information, and transaction records of online purchases.  

“Reaching the one trillion bit per second mark with the Holey Optochip marks IBM’s latest milestone to develop chip-scale transceivers that can handle the volume of traffic in the era of big data,” said IBM Researcher Clint Schow, part of the team that built the prototype. “We have been actively pursuing higher levels of integration, power efficiency and performance for all the optical components through packaging and circuit innovations. We aim to improve on the technology for commercialization in the next decade with the collaboration of manufacturing partners.”  

Optical networking offers the potential to significantly improve data transfer rates by speeding the flow of data using light pulses, instead of sending electrons over wires. Because of this, researchers have been looking for ways to make use of optical signals within standard low-cost, high-volume chip manufacturing techniques for widespread use. 

Photomicrograph of IBM Holey Optochip. Original chip dimensions are 5.2 mm x 5 .8 mm.

Using a novel approach, scientists in IBM labs developed the Holey Optochip by fabricating 48 holes through a standard silicon CMOS chip. The holes allow optical access through the back of the chip to 24 receiver and 24 transmitter channels to produce an ultra-compact, high-performing and power-efficient optical module capable of record setting data transfer rates. 

The compactness and capacity of optical communication has become indispensable in the design of large data-handling systems. With that in mind, the Holey Optochip module is constructed with components that are commercially available today, providing the possibility to manufacture at economies of scale. 

Consistent with green computing initiatives, the Holey Optochip achieves record speed at a power efficiency (the amount of power required to transmit a bit of information) that is among the best ever reported. The transceiver consumes less than five watts; the power consumed by a 100W light bulb could power 20 transceivers. This progress in power efficient interconnects is necessary to allow companies who adopt high-performance computing to manage their energy load while performing powerful applications such as analytics, data modeling and forecasting. 

By demonstrating unparalleled levels of performance, the Holey Optochip illustrates that high-speed, low-power interconnects are feasible in the near term and optical is the only transmission medium that can stay ahead of the accelerating global demand for broadband. The future of computing will rely heavily on optical chip technology to facilitate the growth of big data and cloud computing and the drive for next-generation data center applications.

Technical Aspects of the Holey Optochip

Photomicrograph of the back of the IBM Holey Optochip with lasers and photodectors visible through substrate holes.  

Parallel optics is a fiber optic technology primarily targeted for high-data, short-reach multimode fiber systems that are typically less than 150 meters. Parallel optics differs from traditional duplex fiber optic serial communication in that data is simultaneously transmitted and received over multiple optical fibers. 

A single 90-nanometer IBM CMOS transceiver IC with 24 receiver and 24 transmitter circuits becomes a Holey Optochip with the fabrication of forty-eight through-silicon holes, or “optical vias” – one for each transmitter and receiver channel. Simple post-processing on completed CMOS wafers with all devices and standard wiring levels results in an entire wafer populated with Holey Optochips. The transceiver chip measures only 5.2 mm x 5.8 mm. Twenty-four channel, industry-standard 850-nm VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) and photodiode arrays are directly flip-chip soldered to the Optochip. This direct packaging produces high-performance, chip-scale optical engines. The Holey Optochips are designed for direct coupling to a standard 48-channel multimode fiber array through an efficient microlens optical system that can be assembled with conventional high-volume packaging tools. 

Other Highlights at the OFC Conference 

Also at the OFC Conference, IBM researchers are presenting the following advances: 

• Two optical links that are the most power efficient ever reported. Underpinned by a novel receiver design, a complete single-channel VCSEL based link achieved 15Gb/s operation while consuming only 20 miliwatts of power. This represents the first practical demonstration of an optical interconnect that attains the efficiency levels that will be required for exascale computers circa 2020.
• A complete single-channel 40 Gb/s VCSEL-based optical link that not only sets a new benchmark for speed, but also operates at this high data rate with significant margin. Transmitter pre-distortion for end-to-end link performance improvement, an equalization technique that IBM has pioneered, enabled this breakthrough. 

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News Release from GE

21 February 2012

GE Announces Upgraded Video Compression Module to Enhance Military Decision Making and Troop Safety

 

ICS-8580 rugged XMC responds to growing use of video in conflict zones

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA February 21, 2012 GE Intelligent Platforms today announced an enhanced version of the ICS-8580 rugged high definitionvideo compression XMC module. Designed in response to the growing use of video in a broad range of defense applications, it allows very high quality moving images to be captured, transmitted and stored at very high speed with very low latency and with minimal consumption of precious bandwidth or disk space. As such, it can make a significant contribution to superior decision making and improved troop safety.

The ICS-8580 can capture video inputs and archive or stream them overEthernet, managing multiple streams and performing capture, manipulation, conversion, compression, storage, decompression and video display. Its rugged XMC form factor means that it is compact, lightweight and consumes little power, enabling it to be easily deployed in systems destined for deployment in harsh environments that are constrained by size, weight and power (SWaP).

The original version of the ICS-8580 has been widely deployed in programs such as NASA’s Global Hawk initiative.

Specifically, the enhancements from the previous version of the ICS-8580 include:

• The provision of two DSPs, each of which can be configured as an encoder or decoder, providing superior system flexibility.
• Full support for PCI Express, allowing uncompressed data to be uploaded and downloaded and improving configurability within custom systems
• Provision of an SDK (software development kit) for faster integration with remote configuration options
• Inclusion of six inputs and four outputs for flexible pass-through modes, allowing the use of any front end connector and facilitating integration with legacy systems
• Out of the box ability to connect to a NAS (network-attached storage) for easier integration.
• Support for the synchronization of stereo or mono sound for improved flexibility.

“The increasing deployment of unmanned vehicles by military organizations around the world is increasing demand for the use of video for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance applications,” said Rod Rice, General Manager, Military & Aerospace Products, GE Intelligent Platforms. “The ICS-8580 provides a substantial step forward in its ability to stream video, and provides a solution for a new realm of sophisticated, demanding applications.”

In video capture and transmission, the primary challenge is how to maintain video quality in order to maximize critical detail while minimizing the use of bandwidth by implementing highly efficient algorithms: transmitting ‘raw’, unprocessed high definition video data at very high speed requires bandwidth that is rarely available in, for example, air-to-ground applications. Similarly, storage of high definition video data – for later review and analysis, for example - in its uncompressed form can require terabytes of disk space.

The ICS-8580 features H.264 video compression/decompression (codec) technology, which is widely regarded as being the optimum solution: it is considered to be up to 3x as efficient as other codec solutions, allowing vital image detail to be retained while occupying the minimum possible bandwidth or storage.

At the heart of the ICS-8580 lies a combination of a versatile FPGA device coupled with powerful dual DSP signal processors, providing unparalleled compute power for video applications. The FPGA enables video switching, format conversions, scaling, blending and other processing functions while the dual DSP processors enable multichannel video compression and decompression for over 100x reduction in bandwidth with minimal impact on video quality. It can handle up to two channels of full HD (1080p30) or UXGA (1,600 x 1,200 @ 30 frames/second) video, or up to four channels of standard definition video.

For more information: http://defense.ge-ip.com/products/3525

Cisco to Issue Updated Mobile Internet Traffic Forecast

News release from Cisco:

PRESS RELEASE

Cisco to Issue Updated Mobile Internet Traffic Forecast and Host Panel on Global Policy Implications of Surging Bandwidth Demand

Related Information

Dr. Robert Pepper, vice president of global technology policy, Cisco

SAN JOSE, Calif., and LONDON, Feb. 9, 2012 – On Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. (GMT) at the Royal Opera Housein London, Cisco will announce the latest findings of the Cisco Visual Networking Index(VNI) forecast for global mobile Internet traffic. The event will also include a panel discussing the implications of surging bandwidth demands on service provider networks, consumers, business services and policies for the radio spectrum. The event is available via webcast for those unable to attend in person.

Who:

Doug Webster, Cisco senior director of global service provider marketing, will share the latest findings of the Cisco VNI forecast for global mobile Internettraffic through 2016.

Dr. Robert Pepper, Cisco vice president of global technology policy, will then host a roundtable discussion with the following international policy experts:

• Professor Martin Cave, Imperial College Business School visiting professor and deputy chair, UK Competition Commission.
• Gabriel Solomon, GSM Association global head of public policy.

Date: Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012

Time: Live Broadcast: 10 a.m. (GMT) / 5 a.m. (EST) / 2 a.m. (PST)

      Rebroadcast (Americas): 12 p.m. (EST) / 9 a.m. (PST)

      Rebroadcast (Asia Pacific): 6 p.m. (PST)

To view the webcasts go to: Cisco VNI Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update (2011-2016)

Tags/Keywords

Cisco, Visual Networking Index, VNI, Mobile Internet, Mobile Data, Mobile Video, Mobile VNI, Service Providers, Doug Webster, Robert Pepper

RSS Feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/rss-feeds

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go tohttp://newsroom.cisco.com.

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