World's first claim for single-chip switch

Fujitsu Laboratories of America has developed the industry's first 10Gbit/s Ethernet switch chip developed for layer-2 functions in high-performance server designs.

Fujitsu Laboratories of America has developed the industry's first 10Gbit/s Ethernet switch chip developed for layer-2 functions in high-performance server designs.

The new 10Gbit/s switch chip enables system designers to develop compact and less costly switches, using high-performance, multi-ported memory that handles simultaneous read and write operation to and from all twelve 10Gbit/s ports, providing a total bandwidth capacity of 240Gbit/s.

The 10Gbit/s switch chip incorporates twelve 10Gbit/s Ethernet ports along with high-speed buffer memories and high-speed I/O macros on a total area of only 256mm2.

An XAUI serdes interface and 10Gbit/s Ethernet MAC, which complies with IEEE802.3ae, are also included on the chip.

Core clock speed is 312.5MHz, and the aggregate bandwidth totals 240Gbit/s.

The new switch chip is built with a multiport memory subsystem that satisfies throughput requirements, even with minimum Ethernet packets.

The pin-to-pin switching latencies have been reduced from several microseconds to only 450ns, a reduction made possible by a shared-memory control program that, combined with a "cut-through" delivery mechanism, forwards packets quickly to appropriate output ports.

The switch chip satisfies the short latency and high-throughput packet-switching requirements of high-end servers and advanced storage systems, and provides efficient multicast support and reduced fall-through latency.

The chip integrates large high-speed digital and analogue circuits, a challenging design task that was supported by various Fujitsu design groups through their particular expertise, according to Dirk Weinsziehr, Senior Director Marketing for Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe.

"The single-chip 10Gbit/s Ethernet chip is the first of its kind in the industry", said Akira Hattori, Vice President of Advanced Interconnect Technology of Fujitsu Laboratories of America.

"Existing 10 Gigabit switches, designed for wide area network applications, are very large and expensive, and are characterised by long switching latencies.

In contrast, this switch meets the requirements of cluster systems and blade-server systems for smaller, more cost-effective switch ICs with very short latencies".

Fujitsu's new 10Gbit/s Ethernet IC is capable of drastically reducing the per-port price for 10Gbit/s Ethernet switch boxes.

Typical chip power consumption is approximately 15W.

The new 10Gbit/s Ethernet switch chip, the MB87Q3050BYL, is fabricated using Fujitsu's 0.11-micron process, and is housed in 728-pin flip-chip BGA packages.

Small-quantity samples and evaluation boards are available now.

The development of this switch was partially funded by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), which is one of the Japanese Governmental Agencies.

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