Cisco Challenges Broadcom with New Chip for AI Data Center Connectivity

Cisco Seeks to Challenge Broadcom in Connecting AI Data Centers

Cisco Systems Inc. is releasing a new chip and networking system meant to connect AI data centers across hundreds of miles, a move that escalates competition with Broadcom Inc. The Silicon One P200 chip and 8223 routing systems allow for faster transfers of data across long-haul optic cables, the company announced on Wednesday. The components are also much smaller than the previous version, Martin Lund, executive vice president of the company's common hardware group, said in an interview. The new technology is meant to link up far-flung data centers and help them work together to develop artificial intelligence models. Previous versions of the Cisco product could work over similar distances but didn't transfer enough data to be useful for things like AI training -- a process that involves bombarding models with massive amounts of information. Broadcom has taken a similar approach with its products. That company unveiled its latest Jericho networking chip in August, saying it would move larger volumes of data and be ideal for handling AI work across multiple locations. Though Cisco is a less-recognized player in this market, it's trying to get the latest equipment to customers faster than Broadcom. Microsoft Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., users of the current Silicon One, are examining adopting the P200, the San Jose, California-based company said. "It's a little known fact is that Cisco have a complete portfolio that matches Broadcom," Lund said. "Broadcom is obviously recognized as being a leader, but they are not alone." The Cisco chips are reprogrammable, so they can be updated without having to replace them. They also have significant capacity for buffering, or storing incoming data when there's a burst of activity. That helps prevent the information from getting lost if the destination is too busy -- something especially critical given the cost of running graphics processing units, or GPUs, the chips used to train AI. "The reality is this: Every packet that doesn't get to the GPU is just like lighting money on fire," said Cisco President Jeetu Patel said in an interview.

Cisco rolls out chip designed to connect AI data centers over vast distances

The P200 chip, as Cisco calls it, will compete against rival offerings from Broadcom. It will sit at the heart of a new routing device that the company also rolled out on Wednesday and is designed to connect the sprawling data centers that are located over vast distances and which train AI systems. Cisco Systems launched on Wednesday a new networking chip designed to connect artificial intelligence data centers, with the cloud computing units of Microsoft and Alibaba enrolling as the chip's customers. The P200 chip, as Cisco calls it, will compete against rival offerings from Broadcom. It will sit at the heart of a new routing device that the company also rolled out on Wednesday and is designed to connect the sprawling data centers that are located over vast distances and which train AI systems. Inside those data centers, companies such as Nvidia are connecting tens of thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands of powerful computing chips together to act as one brain to handle AI tasks. The purpose of the new Cisco chip and router is to connect multiple data centers together to act as one massive computer. "Now we're saying, 'the training job is so large, I need multiple data centers to connect together,'" Martin Lund, executive vice president of Cisco's common hardware group, told Reuters in an interview. "And they can be 1,000 miles apart." The reason for those big distances is that data centers consume huge amounts of electricity, which has driven firms such as Oracle and OpenAI to Texas and Meta Platforms to Louisiana in search of gigawatts. AI firms are putting data centers "wherever you can get power," Lund said. He did not disclose Cisco's investment in building the chip and router or sales expectations from them. Cisco said the P200 chip replaces what used to take 92 separate chips with just one, and the resulting router uses 65% less power than comparable ones. One of the key challenges is keeping data in sync across multiple data centers without losing any, which requires a technology called buffering that Cisco has worked on for decades. "The increasing scale of the cloud and AI requires faster networks with more buffering to absorb bursts" of data, Dave Maltz, corporate vice president of Azure Networking at Microsoft, said in a statement. "We're pleased to see the P200 providing innovation and more options in this space."

Cisco Launches Routing System to Connect Data Centers, Power AI Workloads

Cisco is launching a new routing system built for the intense traffic of artificial-intelligence workloads between data centers. Routing systems use AI algorithms to direct and manage the flow of tasks, information, or requests in various systems and applications. The networking-equipment company said Wednesday that its new routing system, Cisco 8223, is optimized to efficiently and securely connect data centers and power the next generation of AI workloads. "AI compute is outgrowing the capacity of even the largest data center, driving the need for reliable, secure connection of data centers hundreds of miles apart," said Martin Lund, executive vice president of Cisco's common hardware group. Cisco 8223 will deliver the bandwidth, scale and security needed for distributed data center architectures, he added. The system, powered by the company's P200 chip, is now shipping to initial hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Alibaba Group and Lumen Technologies, Cisco said.

Cisco rolls out chip designed to connect AI data centers over vast distances

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Cisco Systems launched on Wednesday a new networking chip designed to connect artificial intelligence data centers, with the cloud computing units of Microsoft and Alibaba enrolling as the chip's customers. The P200 chip, as Cisco calls it, will compete against rival offerings from Broadcom. It will sit at the heart of a new routing device that the company also rolled out on Wednesday and is designed to connect the sprawling data centers that are located over vast distances and which train AI systems. Inside those data centers, companies such as Nvidia are connecting tens of thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands of powerful computing chips together to act as one brain to handle AI tasks. The purpose of the new Cisco chip and router is to connect multiple data centers together to act as one massive computer. "Now we're saying, 'the training job is so large, I need multiple data centers to connect together,'" Martin Lund, executive vice president of Cisco's common hardware group, told Reuters in an interview. "And they can be 1,000 miles apart." The reason for those big distances is that data centers consume huge amounts of electricity, which has driven firms such as Oracle and OpenAI to Texas and Meta Platforms to Louisiana in search of gigawatts. AI firms are putting data centers "wherever you can get power," Lund said. He did not disclose Cisco's investment in building the chip and router or sales expectations from them. Cisco said the P200 chip replaces what used to take 92 separate chips with just one, and the resulting router uses 65% less power than comparable ones. One of the key challenges is keeping data in sync across multiple data centers without losing any, which requires a technology called buffering that Cisco has worked on for decades. "The increasing scale of the cloud and AI requires faster networks with more buffering to absorb bursts" of data, Dave Maltz, corporate vice president of Azure Networking at Microsoft, said in a statement. "We're pleased to see the P200 providing innovation and more options in this space." (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)