Routers, switches and line cards need higher bandwidth, port density and up to 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connectivity to handle escalating data center traffic driven by 5G, cloud services and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications. To deliver the higher bandwidth, these designs need to overcome the signal integrity challenges associated with the industry’s transition to the 112G (gigabits per second) PAM4 Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) connectivity that is needed to support the latest pluggable optics, system backplanes and packet processors. These challenges can now be overcome with the industry’s most compact, 1.6T (terabits per second), low-power PHY (physical layer) solution from Microchip Technology Inc with its PM6200 META-DX2L that reduces power per port by 35 percent compared to its 56G PAM4 predecessor, META-DX1, the industry’s first terabit-scale PHY solution.
“The industry is transitioning to a 112G PAM4 ecosystem for high-density switching, packet processing, and optics,” said Bob Wheeler, principal analyst for networking at The Linley Group. “Microchip’s META-DX2L is optimized to address these demands by bridging line cards to switch fabrics and multi-rate optics for 100 GbE, 400 GbE and 800 GbE connectivity”.
With its high-density 1.6T bandwidth, space-saving footprint, 112G PAM4 SerDes technology, and support for Ethernet rates from 1 to 800 GbE, Microchip’s META-DX2L Ethernet PHY is an industrial-temperature-grade device that offers the connectivity versatility to maximize design reuse across applications ranging from a retimer, gearbox or reverse gearbox to a hitless 2:1 multiplexor (mux). Highly configurable crosspoint and gearbox features make full use of a switch device’s I/O bandwidth to enable the flexible connections necessary for multi-rate cards that support a wide range of pluggable optics. The PHY’s low-power PAM4 SerDes enables it to support the next-generation infrastructure interface rate for cloud data centers, AI/ML compute clusters, 5G, and telecom service provider infrastructure, whether over long-reach direct attach copper (DAC) cables, backplanes, or connections to pluggable optics.