Shenzhen, China, September 26, 2024 – The 2024 FUTURECOM exhibition in São Paulo, Brazil, will be held from October 8 to 10 at the São Paulo Expo Center. GIGALIGHT will grace the event with an array of its open optical networking product lines. We cordially invite experts, partners, and clients from the global telecommunications industry to visit GIGALIGHT’s booth No. 154 and embark on a journey towards the next-generation optical networks together.

Preview of Exhibition Highlights:

GIGALIGHT will showcase the following four major product lines:

5G Optical Networking Product Line: This high-performance solution from GIGALIGHT is tailored for the next-generation 5G communication networks. Integrating cutting-edge optical transmission technologies, this product line is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the 5G era for high bandwidth, low latency, and flexibility. Featured at the exhibition are 25G/50G wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and long-haul optical transceivers, supporting extended transmission distances and higher data densities, making them crucial components for building large-scale 5G networks.

• 25G SFP28 CWDM/DWDM/ZR
• 50G SFP56 LR1/ER1/DWDM

AI Supercomputing Center Product Line: Focused on providing extreme bandwidth and throughput support for high-performance computing scenarios such as artificial intelligence and big data processing, this product line showcases 400G and 800G optical transceivers, including silicon-based modules. Capable of extremely high data transmission rates, they cater to the demands of AI supercomputing centers for massive data processing and real-time analysis, accelerating the implementation and innovation of AI applications.

• 800G QSFP-DD/OSFP SR8/DR4/DR4+
• 400G QSFP-DD/OSFP-RHS/QSFP112 SR4/DR4/DR4+

Metro Interconnect Product Line: Dedicated to constructing efficient and reliable metro optical transmission networks, this product line supports ultra-long-haul transmission, offering flexible and diverse options for metro network construction for data center interconnectivity, cloud computing service providers, and telecom operators.

• 100G QSFP28 ZR4/BIDI ZR4/Color ZR+ DWDM
• 200G QSFP-DD LR8/LR4/ER4
• 400G QSFP-DD LR8/LR4
• 800G QSFP-DD LR8/CWDM8

Open Coherent Optical Networking Product Line: Also providing solutions for ultra-long-haul metro interconnect, this product line features coherent subsystems integrated with advanced coherent detection technologies and digital signal processing algorithms, enabling Tbps-level transmission capacity and ultra-long-haul unrepeatered transmission. Additionally, GIGALIGHT brings multiple coherent optical transceivers offering flexible interface types to meet diverse requirements.

• 2U 12.8T Coherent Subsystem
• 1U 6.4T Coherent Subsystem
• 100G/200G/400G CFP2 DCO Coherent Optical Transceiver
• 400G QSFP-DD ZR/ZR+ Coherent Optical Transceiver

Interactive Experience and In-Depth Exchanges: During the exhibition, GIGALIGHT’s booth will feature an interactive experience zone, allowing visitors to personally experience the charm of optical communication technologies. Moreover, the company’s technical experts will be present on-site to engage in deep conversations with visitors, answer questions, and jointly explore future trends and cooperation opportunities in optical communication technologies.

About GIGALIGHT

As an open optical networking explorer, Gigalight integrates the design, manufacturing, and sales of both active and passive optical devices and subsystems. The company’s product portfolio includes optical modules, silicon photonics modules, liquid-cooled modules, passive optical components, active optical cables, direct attach copper cables, coherent optical communication modules, and OPEN DCI BOX subsystems. Gigalight focuses on serving applications such as data centers, 5G transport networks, metropolitan WDM transmission, ultra-HD broadcast and video, and more. It stands as an innovative designer of high-speed optical interconnect hardware solutions.

In this era of information explosion, the speed and efficiency of data transmission have become crucial forces driving technological progress. As a pioneer in open optical network components, GIGALIGHT proudly introduces its flagship product – the 8-Channel LAN-WDM optical transceiver. This innovative masterpiece, integrating eight channels into one, is rewriting the future of optical communication at an astonishing pace.

Why Choose 8-Channel Optics?

Once regarded as a niche area within the industry due to manufacturing complexities and costs, 8-channel optics is now a milestone in optical technology development and a necessary path to the future. Despite attempts to bypass 8-channel optics through technologies like 100G/200G PAM4, the latter approach may not be as wise in the long run. Optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) offers unlimited potential, whereas electrical wavelength division multiplexing is inherently limited. For countries with less advanced semiconductor technologies, prioritizing analog-thinking-led wavelength-division optical technologies is advisable.

Currently, the mainstream optical transceivers in data centers, be it 100G, 200G, or 400G, primarily adopt a 4-channel architecture, which is also extending into telecommunication networks. Even for 800G, the industry proposes a 4×200G PAM4 design. This trend stems from the ease of design implementation with 4-channel optics combined with DSP. However, GIGALIGHT, an industry design innovator, has taken a different route, developing an extensive product line based on 8-channel optical transceiver architectures, including 8×25G NRZ, 8×50G PAM4, and 8×100G PAM4, from 200G to 400G and now 800G.

Advantages of 8-Channel LAN-WDM

1. Low Dispersion: Utilizing LAN-WDM wavelengths, it enables simultaneous data transmission across multiple wavelengths, with each channel operating in a low-dispersion region. This ensures high stability and consistency of optical signals, significantly reducing signal distortion and attenuation caused by dispersion, thereby preserving data integrity and accuracy over long distances. This feature is crucial for enhancing network performance and data transmission quality.
2. Long-Haul Capability: Integrated with 8-channel cooled EML lasers and photodetectors, GIGALIGHT’s 8-Channel LAN-WDM optical transceivers offer LR8 options for 10km/20km long-haul transmission, ideal for data centers, telecommunication networks, and 5G mid-haul applications.
3. High Reliability: Featuring GIGALIGHT’s proprietary 8-channel WDM optical engine design, these transceivers boast high manufacturability. Designed with meticulous consideration for the complexity and variability of network environments, they employ high-quality optical components and precise manufacturing processes, ensuring stable operation across various conditions.

Highlighting Three Star Products

200G QSFP-DD LR8

Based on 8×25G NRZ modulation, the 200G QSFP-DD LR8 achieves a zero bit error rate (BER) of 1E-12 over a transmission distance of 20km. In contrast, industry benchmark products, such as 200G QSFP-DD LR4 with 50G PAM4 modulation, exhibit a BER of 2E-4, a significant difference. For high-reliability 5G mid-haul systems, PAM4 signals might face bandwidth limitations during long-term transmission. The 200G QSFP-DD LR8, however, offers a high-performance, low-latency, and highly reliable channel solution.

400G QSFP-DD LR8

Employing 8×50G PAM4 modulation and a single PCB design, GIGALIGHT’s 400G QSFP-DD LR8 consumes less than 12W of power under various temperature conditions, leading the industry. Compliant with IEEE 802.3bs 400GBASE-LR8 specifications and CMIS 4.0, it boasts exceptional signal integrity and an optoelectronic integration design. Powered by DSP-based 50G PAM4 CDR, it performs superbly, fully satisfying 10km single-mode dual-fiber G.652 transmission applications.

800G QSFP-DD LR8

Compatible with GIGALIGHT’s 800G WDM product line, the pre-released 800G QSFP-DD LR8 also utilizes EML lasers and 8×100G PAM4 modulation, supporting 10km transmission distances, ideal for data center and metropolitan area network (MAN) interconnects.

With superior performance, flexible configuration, and stable transmission capabilities, GIGALIGHT’s 8-Channel LAN-WDM optical transceivers are gradually emerging as stars in the optical communication field. Choosing GIGALIGHT is choosing a future of faster, more efficient, and reliable optical communication!

September 3, 2024. Shenzhen, China. – The 25th China International Optoelectronics Exposition (CIOE) will be held at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center from September 11 to 13, 2024. AI computing power plays a key role in driving the vigorous development of silicon photonic transceiver technology. At this CIOE, Gigalight will demon three mature silicon photonic transceivers at booth 11A61, demonstrating the company’s mature capabilities in the silicon photonic industry chain.

DEMO Silicon Photonics Transceiver

100G QSFP28 DWDM1 O-BAND

• O-BAND 150GHZ CW+MZ
• 30km
• <4W

400G OSFP-RHS DR4/FR4

• 1310nm CW+MZ
• 500m/2km
• <10W

800G OSFP DR8/DR8+、 2×FR4/2×LR4

• 1310nm CW+MZ CWDM4 CW+MZ
• 500m/2km/10km
• <16W

These silicon photonic  transceivers are mainly equipped with the booming domestic silicon photonic chips. Driven by Gigalight’s software and hardware platforms, they all have excellent performance.

Our Story, Not Just Silicon Photonics

In the field of AI computing power, Gigalight can provide comprehensive high-speed active optical cables and passive/active copper cable product technologies. It is planned to demonstrate on-site through NVIDIA equipment: 800G to 2×400G branch PCC/ACC/AOC.

Other product technologies participating in the on-site demonstration include: Silicon Photonics CPO technology, 800G liquid-cooled optical module technology.

Our Story, Not Just Silicon Photonics

Gigalight’s industry-leading 100G single-lambda optical transceiver series, built for data centers and next-generation optical networks, will also be exhibited at this year’s CIOE.

• 100G QSFP28 LR1
• 100G QSFP28 BIDI LR1/XLR1
• 100G SFP56-DD FR1/LR1/ER1-30
• 100G SFP112 SR1/FR1/LR1/ER1-30

If you want to know more, the Gigalight team will be waiting for you at the CIOE booth.

About GIGALIGHT

As an open optical networking explorer, Gigalight integrates the design, manufacturing, and sales of both active and passive optical devices and subsystems. The company’s product portfolio includes optical modules, silicon photonics modules, liquid-cooled modules, passive optical components, active optical cables, direct attach copper cables, coherent optical communication modules, and OPEN DCI BOX subsystems. Gigalight focuses on serving applications such as data centers, 5G transport networks, metropolitan WDM transmission, ultra-HD broadcast and video, and more. It stands as an innovative designer of high-speed optical interconnect hardware solutions.

August 26, 2024. Shenzhen, China. – Since launching its immersion liquid-cooled optical transceiver product line in July 2021, GIGALIGHT has developed a comprehensive immersion liquid cooling product line, with product applications covering the 5G fronthaul product line and the latest 400G and 800G product lines for AI computing power applications.

In response to the urgent demand for efficient cooling solutions in AI computing power data centers, Gigalight has developed highly reliable and cost-effective immersion liquid-cooled optical transceivers. They use direct immersion liquid cooling and optimized optical device sealing design to effectively prevent coolant from entering the optical path, and thereby eliminating the negative impact of liquids on the optical route.

Gigalight’s immersion liquid-cooled interconnect products are mainly based on unique technology and superb signal integrity. The product design fully integrates material compatibility, mechanics, optics, pressurization, signal integrity (SI) simulations and comprehensive tests, The optimized sealing design of optical components and engines ensures that all products undergo rigorous 100% immersion testing before leaving the factory to verify their suitability and durability in both spray-type and fully immersed liquid-cooled environments.

Currently, these products have been successfully deployed in a variety of cooling liquids, including 3M and domestic fluorinated liquids, silicone oil, and PAO, proving their broad applicability and outstanding compatibility. As of now, Gigalight has become one of the global leaders in the field of liquid cooling interconnection in the world. The immersion liquid cooling optical transceiver products are as follows:

Data Center and 5G Fronthaul Immersion Optical Transceivers

• 10G SFP+ SR 850nm VCSEL 300m(OM3)/400m(OM4)
• 10G SFP+ LR 1310nm DML 10km
• 25G SFP28 SR 850nm VCSEL 70m(OM3)/100m(OM4)
• 25G SFP28 LR 1310nm DML 10km
• 100G QSFP28 SR4 850nm VCSEL 70m(OM3)/100m(OM4)
• 100G QSFP28 PSM4 1310nm DML 2km
• 200G QSFP56 SR4 850nm VCSEL 70m(OM3)/100m(OM4)
• 200G QSFP56 DR4 1310nm DML 500m
• Immersed Liquid Cooling AOC：25G SFP28、100G QSFP28、200G QSFP56 AOC 850nm VCSEL 1~100m

AI computing power immersion liquid-cooled optical transceiver (with MPO pigtail)

• 400G QSFP112 SR4 850nm VCSEL 100m
• 400G OSFP-RHS SR4 850nm VCSEL 100m
• 800G OSFP finned-top SR8 850nm VCSEL 100m
• 800G QSFP-DD SR8 850nm VCSEL 100m

Through unremitting efforts and technological innovation, Gigalight has successfully overcome the multiple challenges of immersion liquid cooling technology in optoelectronic interconnect products. The data accumulation and optimization work of its R&D team has achieved a balance in stability, compatibility and cost-effectiveness while ensuring high performance. These liquid cooling products have gained global market recognition. Looking ahead, Gigalight will continue to be a leader in liquid cooling technology, providing efficient and environmentally friendly cooling solutions for data centers and promoting the green development of the AI ​​computing industry.

About GIGALIGHT

As an open optical networking explorer, Gigalight integrates the design, manufacturing, and sales of both active and passive optical devices and subsystems. The company’s product portfolio includes optical modules, silicon photonics modules, liquid-cooled modules, passive optical components, active optical cables, direct attach copper cables, coherent optical communication modules, and OPEN DCI BOX subsystems. Gigalight focuses on serving applications such as data centers, 5G transport networks, metropolitan WDM transmission, ultra-HD broadcast and video, and more. It stands as an innovative designer of high-speed optical interconnect hardware solutions.

Optical communications field – the main application scenarios of silicon photonic chips

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications, the demand is for components to exchange data quickly and consume as little power as possible while maintaining high computing density, especially in terms of short-distance connections between XPUs (CPU, GPU, and memory).

The AI computing era we are facing has the following characteristics:

• Require faster network speeds – rapidly advancing towards 800G/1.6T
• Require network products to have lower latency – improve computing efficiency, and increase the response speed and training speed of AI systems
• Require network products to have lower power consumption – reduce energy consumption and develop sustainable AI computing power
• Require higher reliability of system hardware and software – reduce failure rate, improve availability and user experience of AI services

In this context, traditional pluggable optical modules are already “stretched” in terms of cost performance and power consumption, while highly integrated high-speed silicon photonic chips have become a more superior option due to their obvious advantages in potential price reduction and power consumption. The market’s choice is the best proof. Silicon photonic modules have achieved partial commercial success, and the application of higher-speed silicon photonic modules will also increase significantly.

Silicon photonics is emerging as a promising technology compared to traditional methods. Silicon photonics can enable better communication between computing units such as CPUs and GPUs. Memory units can also be improved to increase the computing power and efficiency of AI applications.

Gigalight Silicon Photonics Transceiver

In response to the comprehensive goal of large-scale commercial use and technological advancement of 800G architecture in AI data centers at home and abroad, Gigalight launched a low-power 800G series silicon photonic modules based on 7nm DSP with a power consumption of 16W, including 800G DR8\DR8+, 800G 2×FR4/2×LR4 data center optical modules, supporting OSFP and QSFP-DD packaging forms, laying a solid delivery foundation for the company to become a pioneer in the field of silicon photonics.

800G OSFP 2×FR4/ 2×LR4

Gigalight’s 800G OSFP 2×FR4 and 800G OSFP 2×LR4 optical module ports use 2× Dual LC interfaces. The transmitter uses a monolithic integrated silicon photonic modulation chip solution, using 4 CWDM4 light sources. The integrated silicon photonic chip realizes 1-to-2 light source and CWDM wavelength division and MZ modulation. The receiver is 2 discrete free-space optical POSAs and adopts a low-power direct-drive 7nm DSP chip solution. The product has the advantages of low power consumption and high performance.

800G DR8/DR8+/DR8++

Gigalight’s 800G OSFP DR8/DR8+/DR8++ optical module port uses a 2×MPO-12/APC interface. The transmitter uses a monolithic integrated silicon photonic modulation chip solution, uses two CWL light sources, and implements 1-to-4 and MZ modulation of the light source in the integrated silicon photonic chip. The receiver uses two discrete FA solutions and a low-power direct-drive 7nm DSP chip solution. This product has the advantages of low power consumption and high performance.

At the same time, Gigalight also provides 800G silicon photonic modules in QSFP-DD package to meet the needs of different users.

800G QSFP-DD DR8/DR8+/DR8++

• 1310nm CW+MZ+PIN
• 500m/2km/10km
• <14.5W/16W

800G QSFP-DD 2×FR4/ 2×LR4

• CWDM4 CW+MZ+PIN
• 2km/10km
• <16W

400G DR4

As early as 2023, Gigalight has mass-produced 400G OSFP-RHS DR4 and 400G QSFP112 DR4 silicon photonic modules. The addition of the latest low-power version 800G silicon photonic series has strongly promoted the company’s confidence in the growth of next-generation optical communication performance. Gigalight has substantially entered the research and development of silicon photonic chips and silicon photonic modules since 2018, and has completed the mass production or sample stage of at least 10 silicon photonic modules. Thanks to the strong collaboration of the global supply chain, more innovative and differentiated silicon photonic modules will be launched in Gigalight in the future.

In the 800G AI computing center, the 800G silicon photonic module can branch two 400G optical modules through single-mode optical fiber to achieve a smooth upgrade of the 400G network.

July 17, 2024. Shenzhen, China. – In response to client application requirements, GIGALIGHT now launches the new Color X Series 100G QSFP28 DWDM1 O-BAND silicon optical transceivers. Previously, GIGALIGHT launched the Color ZR+ 100G QSFP28 PSM DWDM4 optical transceivers based on 4x25G NRZ four-carrier DWDM solution, which have been widely used in the client sides and has been highly recognized by customers.

Now launching the new Color X Series 100G QSFP28 DWDM1 O-BAND silicon optical transceivers based on 150Ghz O-BAND DWDM Grid, single-wave 100G PAM4 silicon optical modulation technology platform. Duplex LC interface is adopted to provide 16 wavelengths for selection, achieve 1600G total bandwidth on SMF dual-fiber, meet DCI interconnection applications, and can achieve 30km transmission under the support of SOA optical amplifier (10km transmission without SOA), without the need for dispersion compensation DCM module, the power consumption of this optical transceiver is less than 3.5W. Compared with coherent DWDM, this scheme has the advantages of low cost, low delay, low power consumption and easy deployment.

Color X 100G QSFP28 DWDM1 O-BAND silicon optical transceivers integrates the latest technology DSP chip to realize 4x25G NRZ to 100G PAM4 and monolithic integrated silicon optical MZ modulation chip, CWL laser achieves 150Ghz O-BAND DWDM wavelength optional.

The product has the advantages of low power consumption and high performance, and the key parameters are as follows:

• TDECQ per channel is less than 2.4dB, which is better than the protocol specification <3.4dB;
• Rx Sens(OMA) sensitivity is better than -9dBm@2.4e-4 Pre-FEC 53GBd PAM4, better than the protocol specification <-6.1dBm;
• The maximum power consumption of the optical transceiver is less than 3.5W.

GIGALIGHT focuses on integrating silicon photonics technology with traditional technology advantages to create non-coherent DWDM transmission solutions for 100G DCI networks. The core of this strategy focuses on achieving low-cost, cost-effective deployment, while relying on its innovative technical solutions to ensure that it is unique in the market and leads the industry development.

About GIGALIGHT

As an open optical networking explorer, Gigalight integrates the design, manufacturing, and sales of both active and passive optical devices and subsystems. The company’s product portfolio includes optical modules, silicon photonics modules, liquid-cooled modules, passive optical components, active optical cables, direct attach copper cables, coherent optical communication modules, and OPEN DCI BOX subsystems. Gigalight focuses on serving applications such as data centers, 5G transport networks, metropolitan WDM transmission, ultra-HD broadcast and video, and more. It stands as an innovative designer of high-speed optical interconnect hardware solutions.

As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications grow rapidly, we can foresee that industries and companies will use these systems and tools in their daily processes. As the complexity of these data-intensive applications continues to increase, the need for high-speed transmission and efficient communication between computing units becomes critical.

This demand has sparked interest in optical interconnects, especially for short-distance connections between XPUs (CPUs, GPUs, and memory). Silicon photonics is emerging as a promising technology that can improve performance, cost-effectiveness, and thermal management capabilities compared to traditional approaches, ultimately improving the functionality of AI/ML applications.

Advantages of Silicon Photonics in Artificial Intelligence

Silicon photonics interconnects play a critical and specialized role in managing the growing demand for AI/ML applications across industries. These components need to exchange data quickly and consume as little power as possible while maintaining high computing density. Silicon photonics enables good communication between computing units such as CPUs and GPUs, and memory units can also be improved to increase the computing power and efficiency of AI applications.

Silicon photonics example layout (Source: OpenLight)

Laser integration is essential for generating, modulating, and manipulating optical signals and introducing them into various systems. However, this has always been a major challenge in the field of silicon photonics.

On-chip optical interconnect technology

To meet market demands, companies have begun investing in on-chip optical interconnects to enable scalability from one laser to hundreds of lasers, surpassing the challenges posed by traditional electrical interconnects.

Short-reach optical interconnects using silicon photonics offer a solution that enables high-speed data transmission while reducing power consumption and increasing thermal efficiency (pJ/bit). This is important to reduce heat generation and keep systems running efficiently.

In addition, silicon photonic integration can create smaller and denser photonic integrated circuits (PiCs), facilitating high-density bandwidth connections that are critical to AI/ML workloads. Heterogeneous integration can more efficiently connect lasers and waveguides, resulting in better coupling and reduced power consumption. In addition, with the development of new lasers, thermal efficiency has been improved, and the number of channels and the number of potential wavelengths per channel have been expanded.

Overcoming the challenges of high-density bandwidth connections

In the case of back-end manufacturing, companies can save significant operating and capital expenditures without having to use lasers externally coupled to passive silicon photonic chips. By using more channels per square inch of silicon and combining different active components together, it is possible to use less power and significantly increase the total bandwidth of each PIC.

Gigalight Silicon Photonics 800G Optical Transceiver

Silicon photonics allows for efficient data transmission in AI/ML applications using short-reach optical interconnects. In the case of AI applications such as natural language processing, image recognition, and autonomous driving, large data sets are processed and analyzed in real time.

Fast and efficient data transmission is critical for real-time decision making and optimal system performance. Silicon photonics can provide high-speed data transmission and efficient communication between components, helping to improve the overall efficiency and performance of AI systems in these areas.

By leveraging silicon photonics technology, companies can optimize their AI/ML systems and unleash more powerful computing power for more accurate and responsive results.

The future of silicon photonics in artificial intelligence

The road ahead is full of hope. Silicon photonic technology has the potential to revolutionize artificial intelligence algorithms and further enhance the capabilities of artificial intelligence systems. The use of silicon photonic technology in artificial intelligence can develop smarter systems that handle complex tasks with higher performance and efficiency.

As architects further develop AI networks, silicon photonics and heterogeneous integration will transform the switching layer, replacing traditional packet switching, which will enable lower latency and lower power consumption at the required interconnect density.

It is believed that silicon photonics technology will become a disruptive technology for future AI/ML systems and has significant advantages over traditional electrical signal solutions. This, in turn, could push the boundaries of what is possible in the field of AI.

While campus switches and data center switches constitute two prominent segments within the realm of networking devices, their distinct natures often remain elusive to many. This article endeavors to illuminate the intricacies of both, offering a comprehensive breakdown of their respective attributes and a side-by-side comparison to foster a clearer understanding of their disparities. By the end, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to discern between these two vital switch categories with greater precision.

What is a Campus Switch?

A campus switch is tailored for deployment in settings such as educational campuses and corporate office complexes, where it serves as a vital link connecting end-user devices like IP phones, surveillance systems, APs, and ACs. Its design philosophy revolves around catering to the networking demands arising from inter-building or intra-office connectivity within a campus environment. Characteristic attributes of a campus switch encompass:

• Abundant Port Quantity: To connect with a large number of end-user devices, campus switches are equipped with multiple RJ45 ports, allowing flexibility in choosing the number of ports based on actual requirements.
• Excellent Security: campus switches typically come with built-in firewalls and other security features such as ACL and port security. These features enhance network security, effectively preventing unauthorized access and attacks.
• Flexible Management and Configuration: campus switches with management capabilities enable administrators to configure and manage the network. Advanced network management tools allow administrators to easily monitor the entire network, supporting basic management functions such as QoS and VLAN.
• Reliability and Redundancy: To ensure the reliability of office and campus networks, campus switches are usually equipped with fault recovery mechanisms, such as link aggregation and redundant links, ensuring network connectivity even in the event of device failures.

What is a Data Center Switch?

A Data Center Switch is engineered specifically for the sprawling landscapes of large-scale data centers, where it acts as the pivotal link connecting core network components such as servers, storage systems, and various network appliances. This switch is tasked with managing immense volumes of data processing, thereby enabling high-performance computing capabilities and supporting the delivery of cloud-based services. Data center switch, in general, exhibit the following defining features:

• High Performance and Low Latency: Data Center Switches are designed to meet the demands of large-scale data processing and high-performance computing, featuring high data transfer rates and low latency. They typically have ports with speeds of 10G, 25G, or higher.
• Robust Reliability and Redundancy: Given their role in processing vast amounts of data and providing high-performance computing, strong reliability is a crucial characteristic of Data Center Switches. They often feature redundant power supplies, fans, hot-swappable components, enhancing availability and fault recovery. Additionally, these switches boast high capacity, large buffers, virtualization support, FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet), Layer 2 TRILL technology, and traffic identification and control capabilities to ensure stable and reliable data transmission.
• Data Center Features: Data Center Switches typically include features such as VXLAN (Virtual Extensible LAN), MLAG (Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation Group), load balancing, and QoS (Quality of Service). These features enhance network scalability, flexibility, and support link aggregation and redundancy, ensuring a higher quality of service for critical applications or traffic.
• Virtualization: Virtualization is a critical feature of Data Center Switches, breaking through physical limitations by unifying the management of multiple devices and providing complete isolation for specific devices.
• Large Capacity and Scalability: To support connections for numerous servers and storage devices, Data Center Switches usually offer a plethora of port configurations and flexible scalability. They can be expanded through stacking and modular configurations to meet the evolving network demands of growing data centers.

Campus Switch vs Data Center Switch

In the preceding sections, we easily grasped the concepts of campus switches and Data Center Switches. Now, what are the distinctions between them? I will present a table and elucidate their significance:

• Application Scenarios: Data Center switches are designed specifically for the core network equipment in large-scale data centers, aimed at handling massive data, providing high-performance computing, and supporting cloud services. On the other hand, campus switches are predominantly deployed in areas like campuses and office buildings, connecting IP phones, surveillance cameras, etc., to meet the network requirements between multiple buildings or offices within a campus.
• Port Speeds: Due to the need to process substantial amounts of data, Data Center Switches typically have port speeds of 10 Gigabits per second or higher. In contrast, campus switches, catering to end-user devices, usually feature port speeds of 1 Gigabit per second.
• Performance and Latency: Data Centers demand high-performance computing and cloud services, necessitating robust data processing capabilities and lower latency. Conversely, campus switches, handling comparatively smaller amounts of data, have lower performance and latency requirements, making them suitable for general office and campus networks.
• Scalability: Data Center Switches exhibit high scalability to accommodate the ever-growing demands of networks. campus switches, offering smaller scalability, have their required connections more or less determined during the initial deployment phase.
• Reliability and Redundancy: Data Center Switches are usually equipped with features such as redundant power supplies, fans, and hot-swappable components to ensure continuous network operation. Conversely, while lacking some of these redundant features, campus switches incorporate fault recovery mechanisms.
• Management Features: Given the need to handle large volumes of data and complex network structures, Data Center Switches boast advanced network management capabilities to meet the intricate demands of data centers. On the other hand, campus switches have relatively simpler management functionalities.
• Security: Data Center Switches, dealing with substantial data that may include confidential files, require robust security features to ensure data integrity. In contrast, campus switches, connecting to end-user devices, do not demand high-security measures and typically feature basic security functionalities.

Conclusion

Campus switches and Data Center Switches exhibit notable differences in their applicable scenarios, functionalities, and principles. campus switches are designed for campuses and small office buildings, connecting end-user devices with adequate performance, simple network management features, and basic scalability. On the other hand, Data Center Switches are tailored for large-scale data centers, tasked with processing substantial data, providing high-performance computing and cloud services. They boast high performance, low latency, advanced network management capabilities, and flexible scalability.