Marvell Unveils Distributed Switching Architecture

Marvell unveiled a Distributed Switching Architecture (DSA) that could be used to develop scalable, cascade and stacking switching/routing topologies. The new technology couples Marvell's switching silicon with advanced software and a forceful silicon driver. This allows networks to be reconfigured without rebooting individual switches and interconnected with high-speed links to act as a single, larger switch.


The DSA enables different types of Marvell devices to be integrated into the same unit, providing features such as high port density and cost optimization. Similarly, DSA enabled units could be connected in various topologies including ring, chain, star and other chassis based configurations. Networks could thereby be expanded by adding switches to existing stacks without network disruption.


In addition, Marvell's DSA can quickly discover the network topology, automatically configure master slave units within the network, seamlessly enable all features across multiple units and, in case of system failure, quickly reconfigure the entire system. Users could manage multiple units as a single entity without any feature loss. DSA enables classification features: link aggregation, VLANs, QoS, mirroring etc. across a stack, a cascade or distributed switches. http://www.marvell.com