New Ara PAM4 DSP Reduces Optical Module Power
by 20%, Enabling Mass Adoption of 200 Gbps per Lane and
1.6 Tbps Network Infrastructure to Meet Rising AI Bandwidth
Demands
SANTA
CLARA, Calif., Dec. 3, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL), a
leader in data infrastructure semiconductor solutions, today
introduced Marvell® Ara, the industry's first 3nm 1.6
Tbps PAM4 interconnects platform featuring 200 Gbps electrical and
optical interfaces. Building on the success of the Nova 2 DSP, the
industry's first 5nm 1.6 Tbps PAM4 DSP with 200 Gbps electrical and
optical interfaces, Ara leverages the comprehensive Marvell 3nm
platform with industry-leading 200 Gbps SerDes and integrated
optical modulator drivers, to reduce 1.6 Tbps optical module power
by over 20%. The energy efficiency improvement reduces operational
costs and enables new AI server and networking architectures to
address the need for higher bandwidth and performance for AI
workloads, within the significant power constraints of the data
center.
Ara, the industry's first 3nm PAM4 optical DSP, builds on six
generations of Marvell leadership in PAM4 optical DSP technology.
It integrates eight 200 Gbps electrical lanes to the host and
eight 200 Gbps optical lanes, enabling 1.6 Tbps in a compact,
standardized module form factor. Leveraging 3nm technology and
laser driver integration, Ara reduces module design complexity,
power consumption and cost, setting a new benchmark for
next-generation AI and cloud infrastructure.
"Ara sets a new industry standard by leveraging advanced 3nm
technology to deliver significant power reduction, driving the
volume adoption of 1.6 Tbps connectivity for AI infrastructure,"
said Xi Wang, Vice President of
Product Marketing for Optical Connectivity at Marvell. "With a
co-optimized companion TIA, our next-generation PAM4 optical DSP
platform empowers customers to scale generative AI and large-scale
compute applications with best-in-class performance and unmatched
energy efficiency."
"Ara is another Marvell optical connectivity industry-first
solution, delivering the power efficiency required for the most
demanding AI workloads," said Osa
Mok, chief marketing officer, InnoLight Technology. "The Ara
platform combined with InnoLight's advanced high-speed optical
transceiver design and manufacturing expertise, offers the industry
a state-of-the-art pluggable module optimized for next-generation
AI and cloud infrastructure."
"We anticipate unit shipments of PAM4 DSPs will more than triple
from 2024 to 2029 to nearly 127 million units a year and remain the
primary optical technology for connecting assets inside data
centers for the foreseeable future," said Bob Wheeler, Analyst at Large, LightCounting.
"Ara marks another first for Marvell and demonstrates that PAM4
technology continues to evolve to meet the challenges of AI
infrastructure."
Optimized for next-generation AI and cloud infrastructure, Ara
is designed to support high-density 200 Gbps I/O interfaces across
switches, network interface cards (NICs) and XPUs, while ensuring
backward compatibility with prior generations. With best-in-class
power efficiency and integration, Ara addresses the growing
requirements of hyperscale data centers, to deliver
high-performance accelerated infrastructure with best-in-class
total cost of ownership (TCO).
Ara Platform Key Features
- 200 Gbps per channel support, providing high bandwidth for
next-generation AI-driven applications.
- 200 Gbps per lane line-side receiver with companion Marvell TIA
CB11269TA, providing best-in-class linearity and low noise for AI
applications.
- PAM4 modulation for efficient high-speed data transmission –
critical for AI and cloud applications.
- Integrated, high-swing laser driver to improve performance
while reducing overall transceiver module design complexity, power
consumption, and TCO.
- Enhanced crossbar switching capabilities within a streamlined
architecture, improving routing flexibility across channels.
- InfiniBand and Ethernet support for versatile interconnect
flexibility across diverse network topologies, enhancing
adaptability for accelerated infrastructure.
Availability
Marvell Ara will sample to select
customers in Q1 2025.
About Marvell
To deliver the data infrastructure
technology that connects the world, we're building solutions on the
most powerful foundation: our partnerships with our customers.
Trusted by the world's leading technology companies for over 25
years, we move, store, process and secure the world's data with
semiconductor solutions designed for our customers' current needs
and future ambitions. Through a process of deep collaboration and
transparency, we're ultimately changing the way tomorrow's
enterprise, cloud, automotive, and carrier architectures
transform—for the better.
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For further information, contact:
Kim Markle
pr@marvell.com
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