Arista updated data center switch portfolio with 800G capability for ultra-dense GPU cluster networking.

Arista Networks is expanding its 7050X4 Series and 7060X5 Series of leaf and spine datacenter switches to address the growing bandwidth requirements of hyperscale and enterprise buyers, including support for 800Gbps connections. According to Arista, both enterprise and hyperscale customers are in the midst of compute and storage refresh cycles that are driving the need for higher network speeds, while also working to reduce power consumption and meet sustainability goals.

Enterprise and hyperscaler customers face divergent networking needs. Enterprises are making the transition from 1/10/25G to 50/100G networks, whereas hyperscalers are already moving up from 50/100G to 100/200/400G. Hyperscaler customers in particular are seeing network bandwidth requirements expand, driven by workloads such as machine learning and SaaS applications. The expanded 7050X4 Series and 7060X5 Series are intended to address these respective requirements.

The new 7050X4 switches add 100G SFP-DD and DSFP interfaces, providing "quad-speed" support, plus QSFP-DD with options from 10G to 400G, claimed to deliver higher density and a lower cost per gigabit. Meanwhile, the latest 7060X5 systems can support up to 32 800G ports and are styled by Arista as multi-role leaf and spine platforms for high-end storage and HPC requirements that are also ready for future server connectivity needs.

Arista said that its 800G optical modules and cables are the same OSFP and QSFP-DD form factors that are widely deployed in today's 400G networks, but provide double the bandwidth at a lower power and cost per bit.