Centralized chassis architecture for half-width boards

摘要

The thermal efficiency of dual-column chassis can be improved by re-locating line card to connection plane (LC-to-CP) interfaces to the center of the connection plane, as this allows inter line card channels (inter-LC channels) to be routed in a manner that avoids bisecting the thermal throughways over which convection cooling air is circulated to the line cards. One technique for centrally locating the LC-to-CP interfaces on the connection plane is to invert one column of line cards. Another technique for centrally locating the LC-to-CP interfaces on the connection plane is to use non-uniform line cards. An additional benefit of centrally locating the LC-to-CP interfaces on the connection plane is that the inter-LC channels extending between perpendicularly adjacent line cards are shortened, which increases server performance by virtue of reducing switching latency.

主权项

1. A chassis architecture comprising:
a connection plane comprising a first column of interconnections and a second column of interconnections, wherein the first column of interconnections runs parallel to the second column interconnections over the connection plane, and wherein a spacing between perpendicularly adjacent interconnections in the first column of interconnections and the second column of interconnections is less than half the width of a single line card; and a plurality of line cards mounted to the connection plane, the plurality of line cards being arranged in a first column of line cards mounted to the first column of interconnections and a second column of line cards mounted to the second column of interconnections, wherein each of the interconnections is mounted to an edge of a corresponding one of the line cards, and wherein a contact between each of the interconnections and the edge of the corresponding line card is less than half the width of the corresponding line card.