Marvell, a semiconductor company, says it has launched sampling of the Alaska C X9340P. The 5-nm 1.6T Ethernet PHY features 100G I/O capability as well as built-in Media Access Control security (MACsec) and full support for Precision Time Protocol (PTP). The company expects the PHY to be used in designs for cloud data center and communications network applications, including wireless networks.

The X9340P leverages Marvell’s PAM4-based 112-Gbps SerDes technology and requires 40% less power-per-bit versus PHYs based on 56-Gbps PAM4-based SerDes technology, the company asserts. Combining the PHY with the previously announced Alaska C X93160 PHY creates a pin-compatible approach for retiming, gearboxing, encryption, and timing applications for speeds up to 800GbE, Marvell adds. Both devices support the Open Compute Project’s Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI), which Marvell says will enable vendor-independent control of network equipment elements.

The Alaska C X9340P PHY’s IEEE 802.1AE 256-bit MACsec capability is designed to support flexible encryption deployment, obviating the need (as well as the cost and power burden) to host such functionality in the switch ASIC. The support of Class C PTP timestamping, meanwhile, enables sub-microsecond end-to-end clock synchronization accuracy, which is a requirement for 5G Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) services.

“100G PAM4 I/Os and 800 Gigabit Ethernet are the next leap forward for the industry,” said Venu Balasubramonian, vice president of product marketing, High Speed Connectivity and PHY Business Unit at Marvell. “Our newest 1.6T Alaska C PHY solidifies Marvell’s position as the silicon provider with one of the broadest and most advanced high-speed Ethernet PHY portfolios for cloud data center and carrier markets.”

“Switching remains one of the stronger markets in data infrastructure. We anticipate that the data center switch market will grow at 9% CAGR over the next five-years with Cloud and Telco service providers growing double-digits and comprising two thirds of the market by 2026,” commented Sameh Boujelbene, senior director, Campus and Ethernet Switch Market Research at Dell’Oro Group, via a Marvell press release. “Growth in cloud and telco service provider segments will also be accompanied by an increase in bandwidth, power efficiency, and security requirements. As 800G networking rolls out, we expect to see more focus on PHY performance and encryption.”

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