networkZONE Products for the week of August 11, 2003
Broadcom Corporation Says…
Fastest Firstest -- 10-Gigabit Ethernet Multi-Layer
Switch, with Integrated CX4-Support Is Industry First
Broadcom Corporation is now sampling the Broadcom BCM5673, the
industry's first 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) multi-layer switch that delivers
wire-speed Layer 2 through Layer 7 switching and routing capabilities over
cost-effective 10GBASE-CX4 copper medium (CX4). As the latest addition to
Broadcom's field-proven StrataXGS product family, this highly integrated
single-chip device, for the first time, enables system manufacturers to
build stackable 24- and 48-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switches with multiple
10GbE interfaces in a compact 1U form factor (standard unit height of approximately
1.75 inches).
The rapid transition from Fast Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet for desktop and notebook computers has accelerated the need for Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) stacking switches in the wiring closet. In addition, network administrators continue to deploy servers with GbE in data centers. To meet the demand for this increase in cumulative bandwidth, today's enterprise networks require affordable and reliable 10GbE uplinks for data aggregation and routing at the core of the network. With the new IEEE 802.3ae-compliant BCM5673 device, network administrators can now deploy feature-rich and economical 10GbE systems into the enterprise.
The BCM5673 integrates a CX4-compatible 10GbE Attachment Unit Interface (XAUI) SerDes, making it an ideal solution for compact 10GbE stackable systems. Solutions prior to the BCM5673 required optical components and complex subsystems resulting in significantly higher cost with less reliability. The CX4-compatible SerDes enables the transmission of 10GbE over lost-cost, standard copper media as well as fiber. This allows equipment manufacturers to build systems with 10GbE interfaces at a fraction of the cost of current, expensive optical solutions.
"Integrating CX4 technology is an important step in creating a cost-effective, single-chip answer for next-generation enterprise networking equipment," said Dan Dove, principal engineer, HP ProCurve Networking. "HP believes that this type of robust, standard copper-wire solution will help drive the adoption of 10 Gigabit Ethernet into the enterprise network by offering an alternative to cost-prohibitive, optical-based products."
The BCM5673's integrated architecture combines a packet buffer memory, on-chip address tables and high-performance SerDes in a single device, significantly reducing the number of components necessary in a 10GbE switch. Competitive 10GbE silicon solutions require standalone SerDes, a minimum of four external memory devices and a fabric interface chip, resulting in at least seven components per 10GbE port. By integrating the functionality of multiple chips into a single-chip solution, Broadcom's new BCM5673 device reduces system manufacturing cost, board space and power requirements, thereby allowing equipment manufacturers to build small form-factor 10GbE uplink modules as well as high-density 10GbE switch systems.
Broadcom's BCM5673 delivers complete wire-speed, Layer 2 through Layer 7 support, and makes the deployment of affordable 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the enterprise a reality," said Martin Lund, Director of Broadcom's Enterprise Switching Business Unit. "The BCM5673 marks the latest advancement in our widely-adopted StrataXGS product family and underscores Broadcom's position as a technology leader with the ability to continually provide feature-rich, highly integrated products that advance the networking industry."
The unique ContentAware network processing capabilities of the BCM5673 provides Layer 2 through Layer 7 per packet intelligence. This extremely flexible on-chip classification processor empowers network administrators to simultaneously deploy voice, video and data in IPv4 and IPv6 networks. Furthermore the device enables complex, content-based access control lists (ACLs) for implementing security features such as denial of service attack blocking, intrusion detection and wireless authentication.
Technical Information
The BCM5673 is a dual-port switch, with a 10GbE port and a HiGig uplink
port for complete interoperability with other StrataXGS products, including
high-density switch fabrics and GbE multi-layer switches. The device supports
line rate switching and routing for all packet sizes, including jumbo frames.
Offered in a 400-pin PBGA package, the device utilizes 0.13-micron CMOS
process technology and yields a power consumption of less than 4W.
The device features an integrated CX4-compatible XAUI transceiver that allows for direct connection to copper cables, XENPAK, XPAK and X2 modules without the need of additional components. In combination with Broadcom's BCM8703 transceiver, the BCM5673 also supports the increasingly popular XFP modules and provides system manufacturers the flexibility in choosing a convenient and economical physical interface.
The BCM5673 reduces system development time and accelerates customer
time-tomarket
by leveraging customer software previously developed for the StrataXGS common
application programming interface (API). Broadcom also offers complete software
development kits (SDK) and reference designs for the BCM5673, including
software, schematics, layout files and related documentation.
analogZONE Says . . .
The BCM5673 is a 10-Gbit/s Ethernet switch device that extends Broadcom's StrataSwitch chipset family (reviewed here when it was first rolled out a bit over a year ago) by working as a 10 Gbit/s adjunct to a multi-port 1Gbit/s product, or as a building block for 10-Gbit/s products. The switch family's versatile architecture was so impressive that it was a non-placing finalist for a Product of the Year Award. With the new capabilities that this chip provides, it may well be a top contender this year.
Broadcom is bullish on making 10-Gbit Ethernet a commodity item because faster uplinks and backbone channels will be needed as 1-Gigabit Ethernet becomes more common at the desktop. They have made significant progress towards their pledge to deliver 10G at a reasonable price by using their ability to integrate functions such as the uplink SerDes, line transceiver, buffer and address table RAM, classifier CAM, packet processing logic, and, the fabric adapter/SerDes. The chip's switch mechanism is an output-queued shared memory, but with no ingress queuing unless it's part of two-stage fabric. This, and the fact that the buffer uses on-chip RAM, keeps latency and latency variation to a minimum.
The 5673 complements the existing switch XGS line nicely both in terms of capacity, and compatibility. For example, it uses same the HiGig XAUI Link to support inter-chip connections (See Figure.) The HiGig connection is a XAUI-compliant quad 3.125 SerDes backplane channel that also supports in-band trunking and signaling info. It supports intra-board, backplane, and stacking tasks without any additional silicon. This makes it easy to build up nearly any combination of 1-Gbit/s and 10-Gbit/s (or even 10/100-Mbit/s) switch ports for your box using their 5670 or 5671 switch chips. An on-chip PCI interface provides an excellent host system connection for management or diagnostic work.
Much as I think Marvell's Prestera is an excellent switch architecture, Broadcom's product line offers more flexibility in terms of product definition. For example, the 5670 fabric has the advantage of scalability because it supports multi-stage switch fabrics (one on the line card and another in the backplane.) Using a multi-stage approach allows you to produce boxes with up to 32 ports of non-blocking 10-Gbit Ethernet. If you are willing to accept some moderate blocking, 128 10-G ports with light blocking (more advanced design to come) and up to 384 1-G ports.
The line-side connection is a standard XAUI interface that can drive a XENPAK or XPAK module bare-handed, or an XFP module with the addition of a BCM8703 10-G serial transceiver. The cool twist Broadcom offers here is that it can also directly drive a CX-4 copper connection. If you haven't heard much about CX-4 already, you'll be reading a bunch more about it soon because it supports short-haul (up to 15 m), 10-G Ethernet interconnects over copper at 10% of the cost of an equivalent fiber solution. I have already reviewed a BitBlitz CX-4 retimer that is turning heads in the industry, and expect to see many similar products popping up in the i/oZONE soon.
But the 5673 is not just about capacity, it's also got brains. It can do Layer-3 switching at full wire speed and perform what they refer to as "content aware" classification. When I asked Broadcom to decode the buzzword "content aware", they explained that their chip contains a set of programmable pipelined state machine functions that do a portion of what a programmable network processor can do at wire speed. The on-chip state machines can perform any combination of its traffic policing and metering functions in parallel, something that could actually be a stand-alone product for many companies.
This would include tasks like:
While it does not do the deep classification and manipulation offered by some stand-alone chips, its on-chip CAM can do L2-L7 classification by looking at the full 256 bits of a packet header. The 1-k-entry access control list (ACL) offloads many security functions normally supported by the host processor.
The other nice thing about being a direct derivative of the StrataSwitch family is that it can make use of nearly all the tools and applications developed for the other chips. To begin with, you can use the same API that supports the rest of the StrataSwitch line -- something that simplifies many software development and test tasks considerably. You can also take advantage of all the third-party development resources that have sprung up to support the architecture. Broadcom is working with Level7, IP Infusion, and several other software development companies to provide tools and OS support for VxWorks, & Linux. This, combined with an architecture that's a bit more open-ended than Marvell's Prestera, will give engineers more options in customizing their products to create value-added features and product differentiation that help resist price erosion and copy-cat designs.
With a nominal power consumption of about 4 W the switch chip will run a bit hot, but it still burns much less power than a less integrated solution. Broadcom says that you can use the 5673 to construct an 8-port 10-Gbit/s switch in a 1U form factor that draws 50 W or less. And at $249, such a switch would have an OEM BOM of under $300/port, minus case, power supply, and optical transceiver. Aggressive pricing like this will certainly help bring the retail price for a 10G port down swiftly from the $12 k - $15 k/port we're seeing today to a small multiple of the cost of a 1G Ethernet port.
If Broadcom can really deliver these parts with full functionality, it will provide a cost-effective solution for 10 GbE in the enterprise for products like 24- and 48-port GE stackable switches with multiple 10 GbE interfaces, or true 10 GbE switches with up to 128 ports. Despite some of Broadcom's past mis-steps with early spins of one or two of their high-speed PHYs, I'm reasonably confident that they will get it right the first time here. This is in good part because the basic Quad XAUI SerDes technology used in the 5673 has been on the market in other chips for a year or better, and also thanks to the slightly less aggressive approach the company is taking to releasing its products.
Samples of the BCM5673 are currently available with production quantities expected by the end of Q3 in 2003. Pricing is $249 each in quantities up to 5-k pieces per year.
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