Broadcom introduces Tomahawk 4, its high bandwidth Ethernet switch chip at 25.6 terabits per second

Broadcom announced that it has delivered the StrataXGS Tomahawk 4 switch series, demonstrating 25.6 terabits/sec of Ethernet switching performance in a single device— double the bandwidth of any other switch silicon currently available.

Delivered in less than two years after the previous 12.8Tbps product generation, Tomahawk 4 is implemented in 7nm technology with 512 50G PAM4 SerDes. Tomahawk 4’s high level of integration and highly efficient architecture delivers up to 75 percent lower power and cost compared to alternative solutions.

The growth of hyperscale cloud networks continues its unrelenting upward trend, with bandwidth increasing by 25 percent and storage by 36 percent year-over-year. Workloads for deep learning, using massively distributed neural networks and alternative computing nodes, require a dramatic increase in bandwidth with dense 100/200/400GbE links spanning high-radix, ultra-low-latency network topologies.

The continued trend towards disaggregated, high-density flash storage is concurrently demanding step functions in network throughput and reduced end-to-end access times. With its switching performance, high 100/200/400GbE port density, and rich feature set optimized for cloud use cases, Broadcom’s Tomahawk 4 is ideally suited to serve as the backbone for the next generation of hyperscale data center networks.

StrataXGS Tomahawk 4 Series enables next generation of high-throughput, low latency hyperscale networks with 64 ports of 400GbE switching and routing; comes with 256 ports supported on a single chip, enabling low-latency, single-hop networks for massive alternative compute cluster; and delivers connectivity using 512 instances of the industry’s highest performance and longest-reach 50G PAM4 SerDes core, enabling long-reach East-West optical links and Direct-Attached-Copper in-rack cabling in the data center.

The offering includes 25.6Tbps shared-buffer architecture, offering up to five times higher incast absorption and providing the highest performance and lowest end-to-end latency for RoCEv2 workloads; advanced load balancing mechanisms, virtually eliminating hash polarization and providing extremely efficient, controllable link utilization; and advanced congestion management, enabling new traffic management paradigms.

Broadcom also announced the introduction of Broadcom Open Network Switch APIs (OpenNSA), opening its SDK APIs for StrataXGS and StrataDNX products. Multiple open source network operating system initiatives are underway in the disaggregation ecosystem, focused on hyperscale and service provider markets. OpenNSA enables these initiatives on merchant silicon and allows the larger community to build on top of these efforts. 

OpenNSA also expands Open Compute Project efforts, like Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI), by simplifying the process of translating SAI APIs to Broadcom SDK APIs. Moreover, OpenNSA accelerates the SDN ecosystem by enhancing the toolset available for the developer community.

“The Tomahawk franchise is the flagship for cutting-edge, single-chip performance and integration among Broadcom’s multi-vectored Ethernet switch silicon portfolio, tailored to the unique and rigorous demands of hyperscale data center operators,” said Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager, Core Switching Group, Broadcom. “We are proud of our world-class engineering team for innovating and delivering the 25.6Tbps Tomahawk 4 chip in less than two years after we released Tomahawk 3.  Broadcom is proving yet again that customers can rely on us to lead the industry on switch silicon performance and execution at every generation.”

“Tomahawk 4 is an engineering tour de force, packing an unprecedented number of serdes into a monolithic 7nm chip,” said Bob Wheeler, principal analyst, The Linley Group. “As a result, Broadcom is once again first in delivering the next switch density, which hyperscalers need as they deploy 400G Ethernet.”

Tomahawk 4 accelerates the adoption of 100/200/400GbE Ethernet solutions at a point where optics utilizing 50G PAM4 electrical connectivity are shipping in high volumes. Products from Broadcom’s Optical Systems Division, which offers a suite of optical interconnect solutions supporting 50G PAM4 and 100G PAM4 optical data rates, complement Broadcom’s switch chips. The combination of switches and pluggable optics from Broadcom provides a complete system-level solution with plug-and-play functionality.

Global enterprise external OEM storage systems market revenue grows by a mere 1.3 percent for the third quarter, IDC reveals

According to IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, global spending on enterprise external OEM storage systems grew 1.3 percent year over year to US$6.6 billion during the third quarter of this year. 

Total external OEM storage capacity shipments were up 6.8 percent year over year to 17.3 exabytes during the quarter. Revenue generated by the group of original design manufacturers (ODMs) selling directly to hyperscale data centers declined 6.8 percent year over year in the thrid quarter this year to $5.8 billion. 

Total market capacity shipments (External OEM + ODM Direct + Server-Based Storage) declined 13.9 percent to 98.8 exabytes.

Dell Technologies was the largest enterprise external OEM storage systems supplier during the quarter, accounting for 31.5 percent of global revenue. NetApp and HPE/New H3C Group tied for second with 9.9 percent and 9.6 percent of the market, respectively. 

Huawei, Hitachi, and IBM tied for the fourth position with revenue shares of 7.0 percent, 6.2 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively. Despite growing and gaining market share during the third quarter, Pure Storage and Lenovo did not finish among the top 5 companies. 

The total All Flash Array (AFA) market generated $2.58 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 11.7 percent year over year. The Hybrid Flash Array (HFA) market was worth slightly less than $2.54 billion in revenue, down 1.7 percent from the third quarter last year. 

On a geographic basis, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) grew the fastest of any region, up 12.5 percent year over year. Japan grew 2.5 percent; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) was down 1.0 percent; and the Americas declined 2.7 percent. China as a standalone country grew 20.4 percent year over year in the third quarter this year.

Zadara Storage deploys at Cologix's Columbus data center campus to leverage connectivity, cloud on-ramp to AWS, ecosystem

Cologix, a network-neutral interconnection and hyperscale edge data center company, has announced that Zadara Storage recently deployed its enterprise cloud storage platform at Cologix's Columbus data center campus and interconnection hub.

The Columbus data center market has exploded in recent years due its geographic proximity to roughly half of the U.S. population, offering low latency connectivity options with strong tax incentives and low environmental risks. 

Cologix Columbus is one of the largest and most advanced data centers in the Midwest. A Tier III Certified facility, Cologix Columbus purpose-built for enterprises and large customers that need critical power with complete uptime, robust connectivity through more than 50 onsite carriers and its ecosystem, as well as direct access to major cloud providers.

Zadara Storage already deployed with Cologix in Montreal earlier this year, where it operates 10 traditional and hyperscale data centers with more than 100 MW and direct on-ramps to such cloud services as Amazon Web Services Direct Connect, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, IBM Cloud and Oracle FastConnect.

"We are pleased Zadara Storage selected Cologix to support the explosive growth in demand for their enterprise storage-as-a-service solution," said Laura Ortman, president and chief revenue officer of Cologix. "We welcome them into our robust interconnection hub in Columbus with access to major cloud on-ramps like AWS and connectivity to our Cloud Access Marketplace."