Arista Networks has taken the wraps off its 7060XE7 Series, a new portfolio of 1.6T networking platforms designed to provide the foundation for rack-scale AI infrastructure.
The 7060XE7 family features fixed switch platforms and configurable rack-scale systems, targeting racks for vertical and horizontal AI workflows. All will run Arista’s Extensible Operating System (EOS), which includes low-latency and intelligent packet buffering to manage the intense microbursts typical of AI communication and collective patterns, Arista stated.
The 7060XE7 family is built on Broadcom Tomahawk 6 silicon. Arista is also working with AMD on next-generation compute silicon and NICs to enable scale-out AI fabrics. the company said.
Strategically, the 7060XE7 Series signifies Arista’s transition from offering standalone, high-performance switches to providing rack-scale systems that can handle the extreme density, power, and thermal efficiency AI requires, Arista stated. The platforms allow customers to build scale-up and scale-out AI fabrics using air, liquid and hybrid-cooled technology.
Specific configurations include:
On the software side, EOS is the featured network operating system, but the family also supports open-source software such as Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONIC) and OpenSwitch.
One of the portfolio’s key features is the inclusion of full support for Open Compute Project’s Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC). MRC is an RDMA‑based transport protocol that allows a single reliable connection to simultaneously use many network paths over Ethernet.
“MRC is an open protocol where endstation NICs stripe their traffic across multiple links and paths to the receiver, with out of order packets automatically handled,” wrote Arista’s Kenneth Duda, president and CTO, and Alan Judge, distinguished engineer, in a blog about the technology. “MRC responds to network congestion signals (ECN and packet trimming), shifting load to the best-performing paths, and avoiding links and paths that can’t actually reach the destination altogether.”
MRC monitors each path, steering around congestion, avoiding paths with link errors, and avoiding failed links, the authors stated. “We’ve proven in production that this approach achieves very high fabric utilization with good load balancing, while interoperating seamlessly with scale-across and WAN networks utilizing standard dynamic routing protocols,” Duda and Judge wrote.
The software also supports load balancing, congestion management, telemetry and diagnostics, and other technologies that will be core to AI networking, Arista stated.
The new Arista family joins a growing ecosystem of vendors looking to tap into the 1.6T Ethernet world, which includes Cisco, Nvidia, Celestica and others.
“Arista Network’s new 7060XE7 Series is a strong signal of where large-scale AI fabrics are heading: higher bandwidth, better power efficiency, and tighter integration between compute, optics, silicon, cooling, and network operating software,” wrote Sameh Boujelbene, vice president, data center switch and AI networks market research for Dell Oro, in a LinkedIn post. Among the features that stand out to her are “strong customer and ecosystem validation from Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Meta, AMD, and Broadcom.”
Michael is a senior editor with Network World focused on deciphering the strategies of many core high-tech vendors such as Cisco, Arista, Juniper, HPE and IBM. Michael has been writing about the industry for more than 33 years and has won coverage awards from ASBPE and FOLIO. He has a BA in Journalism and Technical Writing Certificate from The Pennsylvania State University.
He can be reached at michael_cooney@foundryco.com.
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