Marvell Blogs

Archive for March, 2024

• March 25, 2024

  

  

  

  O-Band Coherent: An Idea Whose Time Is (Nearly) Here

  By Xi Wang, VP of Product Marketing of Optical Connectivity, Marvell

  Over the last 20 years, data rates for optical technology have climbed 1000x while power per bit has declined by 100x, a stunning trajectory that in many ways paved the way for the cloud, mobile Internet and streaming media.

  AI represents the next inflection point in bandwidth demand. Servers powered by AI accelerators and GPUs have far greater bandwidth needs than typical cloud servers: seven high-end GPUs alone can max out a switch that ordinarily can handle 500 cloud two-processor servers.  Just as important, demand for AI services, and higher-value AI services such as medical imaging or predictive maintenance, will further drive the need for more bandwidth. The AI market alone is expected to reach $407 billion by 2027. 

  O-band coherent or coherent lite—a technology that has been discussed for years at conferences but has yet to be deployed commercially in a meaningful way--will likely begin to percolate into the market over the next few years to help cloud service providers accommodate some of these challenges.

  

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• March 19, 2024

  

  

  

  How Optical Technology Will Save the Cloud

  By Radha Nagarajan, SVP and CTO of Optical Platforms, Marvell

  This article was first published by Photonics Spectra
  
  The cloud. It evokes an ethereal, weightless environment where problems get whisked away by a breeze.

  In reality, the cloud consists of massive industrial buildings containing millions of dollars’ worth of equipment spread over thousands, and increasingly millions, of square feet. In Arizona, some communities are complaining that cloud data centers are draining their aquifers and consuming far more water than expected¹ while in the UK and Ireland the power requirements of data centers are crimping needed housing development. Even in regions like Northern Virginia where the local economies are tightly bound to data centers, conflicts between residents and the cloud are emerging.

  With the rise of AI, these conflicts will escalate. AI models and data sets are growing exponentially in size² and developers are contemplating clusters with 32,000 GPUs, 2,000 switches, 4,000 servers and 74,000 optical modules³. Such a system might require 45MW of power capacity, or nearly 5x the peak load of the Empire State Building. This resource-intensiveness also shows how AI services could become an economic high wire act for many.

  

  Performance up, Power Down: Over 20 years, the data rate of optical modules has increased by 1000x while power per bit has decreased by 100x.
  
  

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• March 14, 2024

  

  

  

  How Marvell engineers are accelerating their careers through the power of education, mentoring and real-work experience

  By Mary Gorges, Talent Brand Content Manager, Marvell

  

  Welcome to the Technical Accelerator Program, or TAP, at Marvell India, that’s helping to put 200 of our engineers in India on a path to career advancement. The decisions on career paths and skill development often pose unique challenges for technical talent, who sometimes find themselves at a crossroads, choosing between management or a technical track.

  Through TAP, top technical performers receive both guidance and a roadmap to navigate these difficult decisions. They learn what to do to advance in their careers – what path to take, what skills to develop, what projects to undertake – and what networks to build within their organizations. The goals of those who participate are to become better technical experts, technical mentors themselves, and ultimately, leaders within their function. 

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