The Evolution of NVIDIA Spectrum: What are Switches in 2023

In the age of the Internet, data is almost the most important resource. In the area of networking, data is the main burden to be handled. Workloads are increasingly moving to the cloud and using containerized microservices that require high bandwidth to access data and communicate in data centers. To meet the demands of these cloud, accelerated computing and AI workloads, the fifth generation ASICs on the NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet platform, known as the NVIDIA Spectrum-4, have been introduced.

How was it before?

The NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet platform has evolved through multiple generations, each bringing advancements and improvements to meet the growing demands of networking technologies. Let's take a brief overview of the previous Spectrum generations leading up to Spectrum-2.

Spectrum-1

The first generation of NVIDIA Spectrum introduced a high-performance ASIC solution for data center networking. Spectrum-1 featured advanced features such as line-rate, low-latency Ethernet switching, network virtualization, and telemetry capabilities. It provided a solid foundation for scalable and efficient data center networks.

Spectrum-2

Building upon the success of its predecessor, Spectrum-2 brought forth several key enhancements. It introduced higher port densities, improved power efficiency, and increased programmability. Spectrum-2 ASICs delivered the performance required for next-generation data centers, addressing the needs of cloud-native applications and workloads.

Spectrum-2 offered advanced capabilities like VXLAN routing, network overlays, and segment routing, enabling efficient traffic management and virtualization. The ASIC also provided deep packet buffers for improved traffic handling, congestion control mechanisms, and support for diverse network architectures.

Spectrum-3

While Spectrum-2 was a significant leap forward, NVIDIA continued to innovate with Spectrum-3. This generation focused on maximizing bandwidth and reducing latency to support emerging high-performance computing (HPC) and AI workloads. Spectrum-3 introduced support for 400GbE connectivity, enabling faster data transfer and handling larger traffic volumes.

Moreover, Spectrum-3 offered enhanced programmability, advanced telemetry capabilities, and robust security features to address the evolving needs of modern data centers. The ASIC's flexibility allowed for efficient resource allocation, improved traffic management, and seamless integration with various software-defined networking frameworks.

How is it now?

The Spectrum-4 ASIC enables workload acceleration from the core to the cloud and even to the edge. Besides providing accelerated Ethernet for any data center workload, Spectrum-4 boasts an advanced and innovative set of features. Notably, it offers unique features such as cloud security through MACsec over VXLAN and end-to-end timing precision at the nanosecond level, ensuring accuracy from switch to host.  Spectrum-4 ASIC has a huge number of advantages.

Consistent Performance

Consistency and fair bandwidth-sharing are crucial for multi-tenant clouds, distributed storage workloads, and hardware-accelerated data transfers. Spectrum-4, designed in-house using the NVIDIA 4N process and leveraging technology from other NVIDIA platform innovations, incorporates robust and stable SerDes, simplifying solution design and leading to superior power efficiency and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Spectrum-4 employs a fully-shared and monolithic packet buffer dynamically available to all ports, facilitating excellent microburst absorption and true port-to-port, cut-through latency. It also enables programmability of the pipeline and packet modifier/parser without affecting latency or packet rate, offering flexibility without compromising performance. The monolithic packet buffer architecture simplifies buffer management, traffic scheduling, and fair resource sharing.

Advanced Network Virtualization and Simulation 

Spectrum-4 features a highly-flexible programmable packet pipeline with stateful capability, enabling advanced network virtualization. Its hybrid packet-forwarding pipeline optimizes hardware blocks to deliver exceptional performance. With this capability, Spectrum-4 achieves industry-leading packet-processing rates at scale, while also supporting multiple virtualization technologies such as SRV6, NAT, and custom virtualization. Additionally, the Spectrum platform, including Spectrum-4 ASIC, supports digital twins of switches through the NVIDIA Air infrastructure simulation platform. This digital twin facilitates various tasks such as validating security policy compliance, automation processes, monitoring tools, interoperability, and upgrade procedures. The SimX feature allows developers to simulate the ASIC for early access and better debugging.

Actionable Visibility With What Just Happened (WJH) 

Spectrum-4 offers packet-granular network-based visibility data, seamlessly integrating with open APIs at the SDK layer. Referred to as What Just Happened (WJH), this feature provides real-time troubleshooting capabilities for network operators. WJH can be extended and customized to support third-party and open-source tools, making it highly adaptable for integration into network monitoring and analysis systems. Combining WJH with NetQ allows for a turn-key solution that validates and monitors the network fabric. Spectrum-4 also supports traditional hardware-based visibility tools such as sFlow, in-band telemetry, and streaming telemetry, further enhancing network visibility.

Choice of Software

NVIDIA provides a comprehensive set of software development tools and open APIs, enabling users and partners to develop fully-functional switching solutions on top of Spectrum-4 with low TCO and a short time-to-market. Users have the flexibility to choose the network operating system that best suits their needs, including Cumulus Linux, SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud), or the Linux Switch driver, which enables native Linux operating systems and applications on Spectrum-4.

End-to-End Synergy

Spectrum-4, as part of the NVIDIA Spectrum platform, undergoes pre-testing and validation alongside NVIDIA's full portfolio of Ethernet networking technology. This includes BlueField-3 DPUs and ConnectX-7 SmartNICs, which utilize the same 100G SerDes channels as Spectrum-4. This end-to-end solution is vital for powering NVIDIA's accelerated AI and simulation platforms, providing the high performance and innovative features necessary to enhance cloud-native applications at scale.