Broadcom launched a new Trident chip that sports four-times the speed of its previous iteration and blurs the performance line with the firm’s high-end Tomahawk product. It could also play a more important role in positioning the vendor within the rapidly evolving chip market.

Peter Del Vecchio, marketing manager at Broadcom, explained that the Trident 4 chip is targeted at enterprises that are looking to balance cost, performance, and programmability. He noted that the new chip does this by taking advantage of merchant silicon-based systems that have typically been the domain of hyperscaler-based products.

The Trident 4 is built on a monolithic 7-nanometer (nm) architecture, which Del Vecchio said was the first of its kind in the segment. It can also scale from 2 Tb/s up to 12.8 Tb/s, which matches the performance of Broadcom’s current Tomahawk 3 chip targeted at the hyperscaler market.

Del Vecchio said that speed allows customers to reduce their operational footprint from a multi-chip system onto a single chip. This reduces costs associated with power consumption and simplifies software and hardware architectures.

The Trident 4 chip's programmability extends to runtime, which allows for functions to be updated while the switch remains in operation. This is designed to cut down on the chance of dropped packets.

Broadcom uses its self-constructed Network Programming Language (NPL) for that programmability base. Del Vecchio noted that NPL has a better construct to support more efficient hardware and software coding compared with something like the Barefoot Networks-developed P4 language.

To further expand the reach of NPL, Broadcom is also opening up the platform through a new open source front-end compiler and simulator. It will also be using NPL for future updates to its Jericho chip platform.

Del Vecchio said the new chip bookends the company’s StrataXGS line with its Tomahawk line. Those two sit above its Jericho programmable Ethernet switch chip that targets service provider networks, edge and core routers, cloud data centers, and enterprise campuses.

The Tomahawk product is focused on what Del Vecchio called “light touch” applications, which he said is typically the hyperscaler providers. He noted that it works best in Level 3 switching environments like a data center or fabric where there is not as much of a need for the depth of protocols supported by the Trident line.

However, he added that those hyperscalers are also using the Trident line for areas like edge applications. “The Trident line is more feature rich, has greater flexibility, and more packet buffering,” Del Vecchio explained.

He also hinted that we can expect a performance update to the Tomahawk line at some point. “The general history on the Tomahawk line is that we double bandwidth roughly every two years so we don’t really see that stopping any time soon,” Del Vecchio said. “Hyperscaler needs are relentless and we don’t see that stopping anytime soon.”

What’s also been relentless is the pace of change in the broader chip market.

While Broadcom is claiming some firsts with its latest Trident line, those specifications are very similar to what Barefoot Networks recently announced with its Tofino 2 update late last year. Those specs include the use of 7nm technology to process packets at 12.8 Tb/s to better support hyperscale data centers and emerging network architectures and application workloads.

Robin Grindley, a marketing manager at Broadcom, clarified that its claim is based on its monolithic architecture compared to the modular chiplet architecture used by Barefoot. He added that the chiplet approach has more overhead compared with Broadcom's monolithic approach that can impact power consumption, but that there were “plusses and minuses” with both architectures.

“We are focused on high volume and the monolithic approach fits into those plans,” Grindley said.

Del Vecchio echoed that sentiment in downplaying the direct comparison with Barefoot by noting, “they are still shipping very low volumes for these niche applications where you have a very constrained set of protocols for something that is not standard networking.”

That of course could change as just this morning, Intel announced plans to acquire Barefoot for an undisclosed amount. That deal could provide Intel with the programmability component it has so far lacked and give Barefoot the broader resources needed to expand its reach.

Grindley said that Broadcom did not yet have any comment on that deal.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to note that Broadcom did not have a comment on the Intel/Barefoot deal.