December 10, 2024 /SemiMedia/ — Marvell Technology, Inc. has introduced Marvell® Ara, the first 3nm 1.6 Tbps PAM4 interconnect platform, featuring 200 Gbps electrical and optical interfaces. Building on the success of the Nova 2 DSP, the industry’s first 5nm 1.6 Tbps PAM4 DSP, Ara uses Marvell’s advanced 3nm platform with 200 Gbps SerDes and integrated optical modulator drivers. This reduces the power usage of 1.6 Tbps optical modules by more than 20%. The improved energy efficiency helps cut operational costs and supports the development of new AI server and networking architectures, providing higher bandwidth and performance for AI workloads within the power limits of data centers.

Ara, the industry’s first 3nm PAM4 optical DSP, builds on six generations of Marvell leadership in PAM4 optical DSP technology.  It integrates eight 200 Gbps electrical lanes to the host and eight 200 Gbps optical lanes, enabling 1.6 Tbps in a compact, standardized module form factor. Leveraging 3nm technology and laser driver integration, Ara reduces module design complexity, power consumption and cost, setting a new benchmark for next-generation AI and cloud infrastructure.

“Ara sets a new industry standard by leveraging advanced 3nm technology to deliver significant power reduction, driving the volume adoption of 1.6 Tbps connectivity for AI infrastructure,” said Xi Wang, Vice President of Product Marketing for Optical Connectivity at Marvell. “With a co-optimized companion TIA, our next-generation PAM4 optical DSP platform empowers customers to scale generative AI and large-scale compute applications with best-in-class performance and unmatched energy efficiency.”

“Ara is another Marvell optical connectivity industry-first solution, delivering the power efficiency required for the most demanding AI workloads,” said Osa Mok, chief marketing officer, InnoLight Technology. “The Ara platform combined with InnoLight’s advanced high-speed optical transceiver design and manufacturing expertise, offers the industry a state-of-the-art pluggable module optimized for next-generation AI and cloud infrastructure.”

“We anticipate unit shipments of PAM4 DSPs will more than triple from 2024 to 2029 to nearly 127 million units a year and remain the primary optical technology for connecting assets inside data centers for the foreseeable future,” said Bob Wheeler, Analyst at Large, LightCounting. “Ara marks another first for Marvell and demonstrates that PAM4 technology continues to evolve to meet the challenges of AI infrastructure.”

Optimized for next-generation AI and cloud infrastructure, Ara is designed to support high-density 200 Gbps I/O interfaces across switches, network interface cards (NICs) and XPUs, while ensuring backward compatibility with prior generations. With best-in-class power efficiency and integration, Ara addresses the growing requirements of hyperscale data centers, to deliver high-performance accelerated infrastructure with best-in-class total cost of ownership (TCO).

Ara Platform Key Features

  • 200 Gbps per channel support, providing high bandwidth for next-generation AI-driven applications.
  • 200 Gbps per lane line-side receiver with companion Marvell TIA CB11269TA, providing best-in-class linearity and low noise for AI applications.
  • PAM4 modulation for efficient high-speed data transmission – critical for AI and cloud applications.
  • Integrated, high-swing laser driver to improve performance while reducing overall transceiver module design complexity, power consumption, and TCO.
  • Enhanced crossbar switching capabilities within a streamlined architecture, improving routing flexibility across channels.
  • InfiniBand and Ethernet support for versatile interconnect flexibility across diverse network topologies, enhancing adaptability for accelerated infrastructure.

Marvell Ara will sample to select customers in Q1 2025.