Four small things that are bound to happen in the field of network switching in 2019

In 2018, friends in the network circle have witnessed the launch of 400Gbps switches by equipment manufacturers such as Cisco/Arista, the launch of DCN/DCI optical connection solutions by optical module manufacturers such as Finisar, and the next-generation SERDES and switch chip technologies hidden behind these products. In the context of the global cloud business still staking out its territory, 2019 will still be a year of rapid development of network hardware. In this year, we can foresee the following four key technological breakthroughs:

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1. Launch of 112 Gbps SERDES

With the official shipment of chips equipped with 56Gbps SERDES technology, manufacturers have begun to quickly invest in the research and development of the next generation of speeds. The driving force behind all this is the rapid growth of cloud business. It is expected that cloud vendors will begin to demand 25.6Tbps or even 51.2Tbps chips in two years, and 112Gbps SERDES will become a necessity. In 2019, we expect to see the launch of a batch of 112Gbit/s SERDES products, and the design and system integration work is currently progressing steadily.

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112G Multi-Rate PAM-4 SerDes Test Chip and Demo Board

2. Next-generation 400G products are released and drive the DCI market

The second generation of 400Gbps Ethernet switches and routers will enter the demo phase. The demand for the first generation of 400G products mainly comes from two cloud customers, and the use scenarios are mainly within the data center less than 2km. Therefore, the second generation product plan will increase the line distance to 100km, which is expected to be more widely used. In 2019, we will see more systems and optical modules that support longer distances, helping cloud providers use common Ethernet technology inside the data center to connect different data centers.

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400G Ethernet Switching Equipment

3. 7nm semiconductor process will replace 16nm and help high-density 400Gbps Ethernet switches

So far, there is only one 7nm switch chip on the market, and most of the others use 16nm technology. By 2020, when the use of 400G optical modules increases and the price drops, it is foreseeable that the market will quickly shift to 400Gbit/s chips based on 7nm technology. Equipment manufacturers will start to showcase products based on 7nm technology in 2019.

TSMC's 16nm technology quickly transitions to 7nm, and 10nm becomes non-mainstream

4. Chiplet technology decouples Ethernet switch chip design

Chiplet semiconductor architecture refers to the technology of independently designing the core of the switching chip and the SERDES part and finally merging them into a package. This technology will appear in data centers in 2019. When most chip foundries have 7nm capabilities, the market will gradually accept onboard optical modules and silicon photonics through this technology. Its advantages are that it can improve product agility, reduce costs and power consumption, and enrich product forms.

The expansion of public cloud scale has promoted the rapid growth of network bandwidth, and the growth of network bandwidth has guaranteed the expansion of public cloud scale. At present, the field of network switching has developed by leaps and bounds driven by demand. In 2019, we will see the emergence of more new technologies. There is reason to believe that 2019 will be the first year of 400G Ethernet application.