800G: Empowering Open Platforms for Unprecedented Speed and Agility

Author: Jeff Catlin, Director, Celestica Collection: 2023 Global Summit - Networking

Summary

Celestica presents the DS5000, a 64x800G (51.2 Tbps) Ethernet switch being contributed to OCP as a design specification, seeking OCP Inspired status. Jeff Catlin, who is also a co-chair of the OCP steering committee, uses this contribution to demonstrate the new three-tiered OCP contribution process (base specification, design specification, and product specification). The DS5000 follows Broadcom's previously approved 64x800G base specification and complements Broadcom's own SVK design specification with a production-grade, go-to-market switch platform.

The DS5000 is a 2RU, 19-inch rack-mountable design based on Broadcom Tomahawk 5 silicon. It supports 64 OSFP ports at 800G, with breakout capability to 128x400G, 256x200G, or 320x100G. The design is highly modular, comprising seven PCB assemblies (baseboard, COM-E CPU module, RunBMC card, switchboard, LED board, PSU board, and fan board) with a cableless architecture -- no flyover cables, all high-speed signals routed directly on PCB substrate. Software support includes OpenBMC with Redfish, ONIE, Open Networking Linux, and SONiC as the default NOS. The switch claims approximately 75% power savings compared to achieving equivalent bandwidth with previous-generation designs, and its modular construction enables component harvesting for sustainability.