Evaluating and Comparing the Latest Ethernet Switches and PHY Chips
The Ethernet market is marked by technology transitions, which often result in large shifts in vendor share. Over the past several years, large data-center operators have increased the pace of technology innovation, creating markets for new speeds and new physical layers. These dynamics are behind the introduction of high-density 100G Ethernet switch chips, which also serve the new 25G and 50G Ethernet standards. The same operators also have a huge appetite for data-center interconnect (DCI) bandwidth, creating early demand for 400G Ethernet.
在以太网交换机中，赤脚网络，Broadcom，Cavium，Centec，Innovium，Marvell和Mellanox正在竞争数据中心的市场份额。这些供应商正在添加100G以太网支持以及SDN和NFV的新功能。对于数据中心来说，大多数PHY开发现在使用25Gbps Serdes技术的100GBE重新激化器芯片侧重于100GBE的Retimer芯片，在地平线上有50Gbps PAM4。
The large size of the Ethernet switch and PHY market continues to keep it a competitive environment. "A Guide to Ethernet Switch and PHY Chips" breaks this market into three growth segments:
- Data-center switch chips
- 10GBE铜的物理（10GBASE-T）
- 100gbe变速箱仪表和25Gbps的排名裤
Unlike typical market research, this report provides technology analysis and head-to-head product comparisons. Which chips will win designs and why? How will these vendors be positioned as 100GbE ramps? Only TechInsights’ unique technology analysis can provide this forward-looking view.
We Sort Out the Technology and the Key Vendors
“一个以太网交换机和PHY芯片指南”就开始了with an extensive overview of this dynamic market. The report provides tutorials that help you decipher the myriad of acronyms and Ethernet standards. We explore the target markets and applications for Ethernet silicon, followed by an explanation of the common attributes of these products.
以下介绍性章节,报告delivers a complete chapter on five leading switch vendors: Barefoot Networks, Broadcom, Cavium, Intel, and Marvell. Each vendor chapter includes company background information, full details of announced products, a discussion of the vendor’s roadmap where available, and our conclusions about the vendor and its products. Then, for each product segment, we include a chapter covering other vendors and a chapter comparing the products in the segment.
产品分部章节包括开关芯片和PHY芯片的覆盖范围。我们涵盖了来自Centec，Innovium和Mellanox的开关芯片。对于物理层，我们专注于10Gbps以太网过铜芯片和100Gbps变速箱仪表和标准子。涵盖的PHY供应商包括Aquantia和Inphi。最后，我们为每个部门和整体市场的领先供应商提供了我们的前景。
What's new
自上文发布以来，对第十三版“以太网交换机和PHY芯片指南”的更新结合了新的公告。
- Coverage of Broadcom’s new Tomahawk II, Trident 3, and Jericho+ Ethernet switch chips
- Coverage of Marvell’s Bobcat 3 25G Ethernet switch
- Coverage of Barefoot Networks’ Tofino programmable switch
- Coverage of Innovium’s 12.8Tbps Teralynx switch
- Full-chapter coverage of Cavium’s Xpliant programmable switch
- 2016年市场规模和供应商分享GBE开关芯片，10GBE开关芯片和10GBE Quale
- Updated market forecasts for GbE through 100GbE switch chips as well as 10GbE and 100GbE PHYs, from 2016 - 2021
- Product comparisons updated to include the latest chips
执行摘要
This report examines Ethernet switch chips and physical-layer (PHY) chips for data-center applications. We look at 10G Ethernet (10GbE), 25G Ethernet (25GbE), and 100G Ethernet (100GbE) switch chips. Some 100GbE products enable draft-standard 200G Ethernet and 400G Ethernet rates as well. We cover 10GBase-T (copper) PHYs as well as 100GbE gearbox PHYs and retimers. The newest 10GBase-T chips also handle the new 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps standards for twisted-pair cabling.
The market for Ethernet chips was once dominated by enterprise applications but now relies on cloud data centers for growth. In data centers, virtually every OEM and ODM system design uses ASSPs. Cisco’s ASIC-based Nexus products are the major exception, but even this line uses ASSPs in some models. The rising white-box movement also threatens to loosen OEMs’ hold and shift the market toward bare-metal systems built by ODMs. Hyperscale-data-center operators are driving the early ramp in 100G Ethernet switch chips, which enable 25G and 50G Ethernet for server access.
然而，在2016年，10Gbe仍然占据了数据中心交换机的原因。我们估计10GBE / 40GBE交换机和PHY芯片收入于2016年达到了14亿美元，由固定配置开关为顶部（TOR）和叶子/脊柱使用而导致。
虽然我们将它们引用为光学Phys，但是10Gbps Serdes组件也用于SFP +直接连接电缆。由于新的ASSP和ASIC设计集成了这些SERDES，因此我们认为独立的光学物理的市场已达到顶峰。相比之下，切换芯片不会在可预见的未来将10GBASE-T符集成。因此，2016年10GBase-T PHY收入增长了近60％。基于25Gbps Serdes技术的100Gbe Phys中存在新兴机会。由于信号完整性挑战，我们预计开关设计的增加部分将需要开关ASSP / ASIC和ASIC和光学模块之间的标度器。
The vendor landscape for data-center switch chips comprises one dominant supplier, several incumbents with limited share, and a number of new entrants vying for a piece of this fast-growing market. Technology discontinuities include new Ethernet data rates — 25Gbps, 50Gbps, 200Gbps, and 400Gbps — as well as software-defined networking (SDN). The latter trend has led to new programmable switch architectures that are more flexible than traditional fixed-pipeline designs.
Broadcom gained share in the 10GbE transition, and it controlled more than 90% of the market by revenue in 2016. The company’s Trident family dominates ASSP-based data-center switch designs for 10GbE. In 2015, Broadcom shipped its first Tomahawk switch for 100GbE designs, and it saw revenue ramp in 2016. Avago’s acquisition of Broadcom, which closed in February 2016, has had little impact on the Ethernet switch and PHY products. The company continues to invest in three different switch architectures serving the data center. One is Trident 3, an evolution of the venerable Trident family that adds programmability.
Marvell是Broadcom在完整的以太网交换市场上的顶级竞争对手，但它落后于数据中心段的正压。在2016年管理变更之后，该公司已重新分为以太网策略，并将其前25G / 100G以太网交换机（称为Bobcat 3）提供给生产。仍然，Marvell尚未匹配Broadcom的数据中心组合的广度。
Among the new entrants is Cavium, which was the first vendor to begin production of a customer-programmable 100GbE switch chip. This product line came from its spin-in of Xpliant. Cavium is now sampling a second-generation design that competes more directly with Trident 3.
赤脚网络是另一个具有可编程100GBE设计的新人。它通过支持一个名为P4的开放式编程语言来突出。启动器提供了一个P4编译器，即客户可以用于为其Tofino交换机芯片生成代码。
Innovium is the latest startup to disclose a data-center switch chip. It was first to announce a chip that handles the new 200G and 400G Ethernet standards, but that chip had not yet sampled at press time.
Infiniband Leader Mellanox是以太网交换机芯片最近的参赛者，并运送100Gbe产品。公司拥有强大的技术和优秀的产品执行记录。它主要提供系统级开关产品，限制了其对芯片市场的影响。
Based in China, privately held Centec initially targeted Carrier Ethernet designs, but its newest products also address data-center designs. In 2016, it reached production with its first 10GbE switch chip, which includes 100GbE uplink ports.
2015年之前，英特尔运输传统的10GBE / 40GBE开关芯片，与来自Broadcom和其他人的竞争。然而，该公司的最新产品是一个唯一的芯片，将多个主机控制器与以太网交换机组合。FM10000（代码名为RED ROCK CANYON）与网络设备中的Xeon Server处理器配合使用。
In addition to switch chips, Broadcom and Marvell offer PHYs for 10GbE and 100GbE. PHY specialists that serve the data center include Inphi, which was first to market with a 100GbE gearbox chip developed in CMOS technology. Privately held Aquantia emerged as an early leader in 10GBase-T and pioneered the NBase-T specification, which later became the basis for the 2.5G/5G Ethernet standard.
This report is written for:
- Engineers designing Ethernet switch products or systems that embed an Ethernet switch or PHY
- 销售有关以太网芯片需要更多信息的相关芯片的公司营销和工程人员
- 祝以以太网芯片介绍技术专业人士
- Financial analysts who desire a detailed analysis and comparison of data-center Ethernet semiconductor companies and their chances of success
