System and method for increasing input/output speeds in a network switch

摘要

A system and method for increasing input/output speeds in a network switch. A physical layer device is provided that includes a physical coding sublayer that insert data flow identifiers to data flows that are provided to a gearbox. In one embodiment, the gearbox is a 5 to 2 gearbox that can transport various combinations of 10G/40G data flows over a narrower interface to a second physical layer device having an inverse gearbox.

主权项

1. A 100 Gigabit Ethernet physical layer device, comprising:
a 100 Gigabit interface configured to receive four 25 Gigabit data flows; a gearbox having a two to five ratio that enables a production of two 10 Gigabit data flows and two 40 Gigabit data flows for every four 25 Gigabit data flows received, the gearbox being configured to remove data flow markers inserted in data flows contained within the four 25 Gigabit data flows, the data flow markers inserted as control frames into the data flows periodically at every X 66-bit blocks, the control frames distinguishable from data frames based on a different synchronization header in the control frames as compared to the data frames; and a plurality of output interfaces, the plurality of output interfaces including a first output interface for a first 10 Gigabit data flow, a second output interface for a second 10 Gigabit data flow, a third output interface for a first 40 Gigabit data flow, and a fourth output interface for a second 40 Gigabit data flow, the first and second 10 Gigabit data flows and the first and second 40 Gigabit data flows received by the 100 Gigabit Ethernet physical layer device within the four 25 gigabit data flows.