Broadcom Unveils New EEE Silicon Chips

Semiconductor vendor Broadcom has today announced a new range of silicon-based products that comply with the Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) standard – a new IEEE standard for Ethernet chips that enables data centres to realise energy savings of 70 percent or more, compared with current Ethernet equipment.

The new portfolio, which Broadcom claims is the broadest in the industry, includes a wide range of switch silicon, GbE and 10GbE physical layer devices (PHYs), as well as network interface controllers. The company claims that end-to-end silicon and software solutions enable faster deployment of energy efficient networks.

“Energy efficiency is of crucial importance to our customers and to the networking industry as a whole,” said Rajiv Ramaswami, executive vice president and general manager of Broadcom’s Infrastructure & Networking Group. “Not only has Broadcom been deeply involved in the development and ratification of the EEE standard, we have also worked diligently to create products that exceed what is defined in the standard.”

IEEE 802.3az

The EEE standard, also known as IEEE 802.3az, was ratified last week. It is designed to enable networking routers, switches and other devices to cut down on the power they use when in standby mode, without interfering with visible network performance. According to Stephen Garrison of data centre Ethernet provider Force10, however, the EEE standard is more suitable for campus networks than data centres.

In February last year it was predicted that network switch vendors would offer wiring closet refreshes, designed to reduce the power used by enterprise LANs, in response to growing federal pressure in the US with regard to energy consumption.

“Energy-efficient Ethernet will have a huge impact,” said Brad Booth of network silicon vendor AMCC, speaking to eWEEK Europe at the time. “The switch will shut down the power, and just turn the port on again, for short wake periods. This can reduce the energy use by 70 percent on a link. That is huge for a 48 port switch.”

However, Broadcom’s own Energy Efficient Networking (EEN) initiative reportedly goes beyond the EEE standard. “Our innovative AutoGrEEEn technology allows customers to bring energy efficient systems to market quickly and cost-effectively,” said Ramaswami.

AutoGrEEEn is a proprietary technology developed by Broadcom, as part of the EEN initiative, to enable the adoption of EEE and provide a faster migration path for legacy networking equipment. According to Broadcom, AutoGrEEEn builds the EEE standard directly into the PHYs, allowing them to be in EEE mode when interfacing with non-EEE-enabled devices.

Green networks

The issue of low-carbon networking is becoming increasingly relevant within the world of enterprise IT – both from a environmental and a financial perspective. Last month, Juniper Networks launched its first annual Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Report, entitled “The New Network – Changing the World”, highlighting initiatives around green IT, employee and community engagement and sustainable business operations.

“Sustainable and efficient operations are critical to the success of businesses today,” said a statement from Mark Bauhaus, who leads Juniper’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) council, as well as managing the service layer technologies business group. “Advances in the network will continue to contribute to a more environmentally responsible world.”

According to Juniper, in a data centre with 3,000 servers attached by GbEthernet, a simplified design with Juniper’s EX Series switches consumes more than 40 percent less power than a traditional design based on a three-layer architecture.

“When you’re consolidating multiple applications onto a single physical infrastructure, that alone has a very positive effect on the carbon footprint,” Juniper’s Rami Rahim told eWEEK Europe.