Dune Scales Switch ChipsDune Scales Switch Chips

Dune Networks enables scaling switching capacities up to 100 Tbytes supporting 100 GigE port rates

September 29, 2008

6 Min Read

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Dune Networks, a provider of networking devices for Metro Ethernet, Enterprise and Data Center platforms, announced today the availability of its FE600 Fabric Element (FE) as part of its SAND™ chipset. The FE600 provides a 500Gbps, full-duplex switching capacity. Within the two-device SAND chip-set, the FE600 enables the building of a scalable switching platform and provides a full-duplex user bandwidth from 10Gbps up to 100Tbps.

A system vendor is now able to create of a unified architecture that spans all capacities and multiple applications. The FE600 meets the divergent requirements and capacities of Carrier, Enterprise and Data Center markets. Density wise, a switching platform requires approximately a single FE600 device for every 400–500Gbps of full-duplex user bandwidth. This scales to tens of terabits. Application wise, the FE600 supports the switching of all data packets in conjunction with CBR-type traffic.

System vendors who ship in volume switching systems based on earlier members of the SAND family of devices (e.g. FAP10V/20V/11V/21V, FE200) are now able to enhance their switching capacity even in deployed systems. New fabric cards with FE600 devices can be plugged into deployed systems that support the previous generation of line cards, based on 3.125Gbps FAP devices. The new fabric cards also support higher-density line cards, based on the newly introduced P220/P230. Implementing the FE600 extends the product life-cycle to more than 10 years.

The FE600 follows the first-generation FE200 device. As with the FE200, the FE600 is a self-routing switching element. The FE600 expands the FE200 capabilities by integrating serial links running at 1Gbps to 6.25Gbps. Using the FE600, one can build a single-stage or a folded three-stage switching fabric supporting up to 1024 FAP devices.

Simon Stanley, Principal Consultant of Earlswood Marketing Ltd. declared, “Dune is the only merchant silicon switch vendor that supports CLOS with Dynamic Routing, which has become the leading architecture for building switches and routers. Through continuous technology innovation and best-in-class products, Dune has become the clear merchant fabric market leader. Dune’s new generation of PETRA and FE600 devices positions the company as one of the driving forces in the 10G Ethernet market and in the push for 10GE ubiquity”.

In a separate release:

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Dune Networks, a provider of networking devices for Metro Ethernet, Enterprise and Data Center platforms, announced today the availability of its PETRA line of FAP (Fabric Access Processor) devices as part of its SAND™ chipset. Announced today are the P220 and P230 devices in the Petra family, providing 40Gbps and 80Gbps full-duplex traffic management and fabric access functionality, respectively.

By quadrupling the level of integration of existing devices in the market today, the P220 and P230 drive the evolution of Ethernet switches toward dense 10GE-port systems. The P220 and P230, together with the new generation of classification devices, enable the economic design of non-blocking switches with deep buffering and densities of hundreds of 10GE ports in a single shelf. The devices further support 40GE or OC768c rate ports and are ready of 100GE port rates.

The PETRA family enables system vendors to build a product-line that shares the same switching and traffic management infrastructure, and to address both different densities and different applications. Cost effective small chassis can be designed by meshing several P220/P230 devices without the need for fabric devices/cards. Half-rack chassis with densities of hundreds of 10GE ports can be designed by interconnecting the P220/P230 with the fabric element devices. Multiple chassis of different sizes can be interconnected in a non-blocking, resilient way via multi-stage fabric organization, supporting a world record of over 100Tbps of line-rate capacity or thousands of 10GE ports or 40GE/100GE equivalent.

System vendors who ship in volume switching platforms based on earlier generations of SAND devices (e.g. FAP10V/20V/11V/21V FE200) are now able to enhance their deployed switching systems. New line cards with higher 10GE ports density, or supporting 40GE/OC768c port rates, can be plugged into the legacy deployed systems. The P220 and P230 maintain Dune’s backward compatibility methodology and can extend a product life-cycle to more than 10 years.

Jag Bolaria, Senior Analyst with The Linley Group declared, “Dune’s P220 and P230 devices strengthen Dune’s leading position in the switch market. On the basis of availability, non-blocking performance, integration, and scalability, Dune’s P220 and P230 represent the leading fabric and TM architecture, as well as being the first 80G full-duplex devices to sample. We believe the PETRA family should enable Dune’s customers to target new applications and reduce development time.”

In a separate release:

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Dune Networks, a provider of networking devices for Metro Ethernet, Enterprise and Data Center platforms, announced today the availability of a new member in its PETRA family, called the P130. The P130 introduces Carrier-Grade MAC functionality, providing 80Gbps MAC, Packet Pre-Processor, and ingress/egress Traffic Management, required to meet the new density requirements of leading system providers.

By integrating a flexible MAC with a Packet Pre-Processor and a programmable Traffic Manager at full-duplex rates of 80G, the P130 provides system vendors with the complete functionality requires for a carrier-class MAC aggregator. The P130 device enables system vendors to create various over-subscribed configurations that enable configuration from 2-to-1 up to 8-to-1. These can include combinations of multiple ports of 1GE and 10GE with future versions supporting 40GE and 100GE. The P130 pre-processor can be further used to offload packet processing from the system Network/Packet Processors.

Jag Bolaria, Senior Editor with The Linley Group, stated, “After establishing leadership in the switch fabric market, it was natural for Dune to expand its portfolio across Ethernet applications. The P130 provides leading capacity by being the first 80G MAC device, in addition to providing unique classification and traffic-management functionally, as well as over-subscription versatility.”

In a separate release:

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Dune Networks, a provider of networking devices, and AllowTech, an FPGA design house, announced today the availability of SPAUI and RXAUI cores for the Stratix II GX FPGA family. The two companies cooperated to ensure interoperability between Dune’s new generation of PETRA P220 and P230 devices and AllowTech’s SPAUI and RXAUI cores.

SPAUI, an interface based on the XAUI industry standard, incorporates several extensions to support dense 10Gbps level applications with speedup, for accommodating such factors as packet headers, full rate 12GE, and in-band flow control.

RXAUI is a reduced pin version of the industry standard XAUI that promotes using two 6.25Gbps lanes instead of the four 3.125Gbps lanes required by XAUI to implement a 10G interface.

Ori Aruj, Dune’s VP of Marketing, asserted, “Since FPGAs are at the forefront of interface transitions, we partnered with Allowtech to bring forth an FPGA based SPAUI and RXAUI IP offering. Allowtech’s SPAUI and RXAUI implementation is positioned to serve OEMs and ASIC vendors looking to integrate SPAUI in their solutions.”

Dune Networks

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