- Broadcom Thor Extremely 800G Ethernet card targets the AI period with a staggering 800G Ethernet design
- Broadcom pushes PCIe Gen6 efficiency immediately into demanding AI information middle workloads
- Conventional RDMA meets its alternative as Thor Extremely redefines packet management precision
Broadcom has launched the Thor Extremely, described because the trade’s first 800G AI Ethernet Community Interface Card (NIC).
The cardboard is designed for big data center environments which energy superior AI tools and workloads involving a whole bunch of hundreds of XPUs.
Using PCIe Gen6 x16, Thor Ultra improves throughput for Ethernet cards and targets AI data centers where performance and scalability are essential.
Modernizing RDMA for complex AI networks
The Broadcom Thor Ultra 800G Ethernet card addresses several limitations found in traditional RDMA, which lacks multipathing and scalable congestion control.
Broadcom’s redesign adds “Packet-Level Multipathing” and “Out-of-Order Packet Delivery,” enabling more efficient use of network resources.
Selective retransmission and programmable congestion control have also been added to reduce latency and data loss in high-load environments.
The approach follows the open Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) specification rather than a proprietary model.
It allows customers to connect to any compatible network switch or XPU with out being tied to a single vendor’s infrastructure.
The Thor Extremely helps 200G or 100G PAM4 SerDes and long-reach passive copper, whereas providing one of many lowest bit error charges within the trade to reduce connection instability.
Its PCIe Gen6 x16 interface lets it transfer information at excessive speeds appropriate for AI-driven workloads.
The cardboard may also carry out line-rate encryption and decryption with PSP offload, which reduces computational pressure on the host system.
Safe boot and signed firmware strengthen gadget belief, whereas packet trimming and congestion signaling align it with Broadcom’s Tomahawk 5 and 6 switches.
Broadcom describes Thor Extremely as a cornerstone of its Ethernet AI networking technique, becoming a member of merchandise equivalent to Tomahawk Extremely and Jericho 4.
The corporate says that collectively, these parts allow a scalable, open ecosystem for high-performance AI computing.
Nonetheless, it stays to be seen how nicely Thor Extremely integrates with different distributors’ applied sciences or whether or not its advantages outweigh the associated fee and complexity of deployment in non-specialized settings.
Broadcom has begun sampling Thor Extremely, which means that it could quickly start adoption amongst early companions and AI information middle operators.
By way of TechPowerUp
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