Marvell Launches New lineup of Networking PHYs: 2.5GbE, 5GbE, 10GbE, and More

Marvell announced (or Renamed Aquantia products) an integrated set of access, aggregation and core Ethernet switch and PHY solutions that intelligently enable secure and efficient data movement throughout enterprise networks. 

With a complete line of GE, 2.5GE, 5GE, 10GE, 25GE, 100GE and 400GE platforms, the portfolio is designed to fit a variety of network architectures at different speeds, densities and scales at small, medium and large enterprise IT organizations. This latest generation of solutions, comprised of four cutting-edge Prestera Ethernet switches and corresponding Alaska Ethernet PHYs, create a clear path to upgrade enterprise networks to multi-gigabit Ethernet in support of Wi-Fi 6 and 5G deployments. Marvell's intelligent workload management enables optimized data processing at or near the network access edge, improving the performance of hybrid cloud architectures. Insightful telemetry capabilities enable the solution to produce data that facilitates network automation and expedites forensic analytics. Advanced security features underpin trustworthiness and provide network embedded protection from ever-evolving security threats. To support emerging use cases in retail, manufacturing, hospitality, finance and education, Marvell's switching family is built with flexibility and feature richness to address the imminent needs these networks face.

"Today's astounding data growth, high user expectations and enhanced security requirements are putting massive strain on existing network infrastructure and ultimately, on the IT organizations that manage them," said Guy Azrad, general manager and senior vice president of Switching, Marvell. "Built on more than two decades of networking innovation, our newest switch and PHY solutions are designed to enable and accelerate more advanced, reliable and secure networks — across industries — and support new artificial intelligence services driven by the digital transformation." 

Marvell's secure, software-defined and cloud-friendly silicon advances automation and network adaptation. The scalability and capacity fulfill ever-increasing bandwidth demands, assure business continuity and excel in delivering integral quality of experience to the network. The refreshed Prestera switching architecture, with integrated programmable pipeline processing elements and compute resources, provides investment protection as networks plan for flexibility to support future use cases.

"With the burgeoning growth of 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and IoT devices to the network, enterprise switching will continue to extend beyond the traditional on-premises campus environment with increasing deployments at the access and intelligent edge," said Sameh Boujelbene, senior research director, Dell'Oro Group. "These deployment use cases are driving emerging requirements in terms of security, analytics, visibility and automation. Marvell's new Prestera switch portfolio helps address those requirements."

Solution Highlights and Key Benefits
The comprehensive portfolio of next-generation Prestera Ethernet switches and Alaska PHYs advance enterprise networks' digital transformation by delivering software and hardware unified solutions from access to core, fitting a variety of architectures, speeds, densities and scales. Marvell groundbreaking technologies lay out the essential foundation for innovations in network visibility, intelligence, performance and security.

• TrackIQ drives rigorous visibility and actionable analytics by providing accurate line-rate real-time telemetry data about network flows, anomalies and device healthiness.
• NetIQ powers intelligent data processing at the network edge for auto-healing and auto-adaptation as well as feature engineering for AI applications and machine learning.
• SecureIQ delivers network-embedded trustworthiness and advanced security to protect hardware and network software from ever-evolving security threats. The switches integrate secure boot and an IEEE 802.1AE Media Access Control Security (MACsec) Engine to provide cryptography-based security for Ethernet traffic passing through all network-facing ports.
• Performance – Facilitates transition to mGig connectivity with Wi-Fi 6-enabled access points and high-performance end devices. The portfolio provides the capacity across networks to meet increased workloads and data cloudification bandwidth demands – essential to assure network performance and continuity.

The new generation of enterprise switches include a software development kit that has been refreshed with industry-standard switch abstraction interfaces enabling networking system vendors to easily migrate across networking silicon choices. Marvell continues strong support of a rich ecosystem such as Linux Foundation's DENT, Open Compute Project's SONiC, and a variety of commercial networking software solutions including Marvell's own turnkey networking software stack, enabling a comprehensive platform of options from original device manufacturers.

The portfolio includes state-of-the-art Ethernet PHY devices which span data rates between 10Mbps to 400Gbps. Marvell copper PHYs are leaders in the field in cabling reach performance, EMI immunity and low power dissipation while its optical PHYs provide superior SerDes performance, gearbox flexibility, and MACsec encryption at very high data rates. The newest additions to the copper PHY product family are specifically optimized for the 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps data rates required for Wi-Fi 6 uplinks. The quad-port device is capable of Cat5e cable reach in excess of 230 meters at 2.5Gbps allowing for remote deployment of access points beyond building structured wiring. 

Availability
The first of the Alaska PHYs and Prestera switches are available now with the complete portfolio by end of the year.