Innovium unveiled a new programmable switch chip that it claims is the highest performing platform targeted at data center networks. That performance claim is becoming increasingly important as the broader market continues to shift workloads to the cloud.

The new Teralynx 8 chip is its first 25.6 Tb/s capable programable-switch chip. It builds on its previous-generation Teralynx 7 platform that supported 12.8 Tb/s throughput.

"It is the fastest programable switch with the lowest latency," boasted Amit Sanyal, VP of marketing at Innovium, in an interview with SDxCentral.

The new chip is based on a single die, 7-nanometer process, and is the company's first to support up to 256 lanes of 112 Gb/s PAM4 serializer/deserializers (SerDes).

"Up until now switches have been using 50 Gb/s SerDes," Sanyal said, adding that by using 112 Gb/s SerDes, Innovium can deliver the most compact 25.6 Tb/s switch on the market and also one of the most flexible.

The high-bandwidth support allows the Teralynx 8 platform to be configured to support a range of port speeds, scaling anywhere from 10-gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to 800 GbE, as well as form factors as small as a single 32-port rack-unit (RU) or as large as a 256 port, four RU switch. The chip can also be configured for use with up to 512, 50 Gb/s SerDes using a gearbox.

The chips new speed threshold also trumps rival platforms that continue to operate at the 12.8 Tb/s limit.

Sanyal explained that the latest Teralynx release continues to target a growing market segment.

"If you look at 2019, of the IT spend only about 15% was spent on the cloud," Sanyal said. Over the next decade, "we expect that to increase to about 70%."

And with increased 5G availability on the horizon, Innovium expects bandwidth consumption to increase by a multiple of 100. With 5G not only is each base station going to require 10-times the bandwidth but the number of base stations is also going to be exponentially higher as well, Sanyal explained.

"All of this is going to mean more bandwidth and scale both at the edge cloud as well as the cloud data centers," he added.

Teralynx 8 is set to reach original design manufacturers (ODMs) and original equipment manufactures (OEMs) beginning in the second half of 2020. Sanyal said he doesn't anticipate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will impact this timeline, but added that it can't be ruled out.

"Up until now I can say that we've not had any major issues," he said. "That's not to say that we will not have anything come up, it just depends on how long this will continue."