New Liquid-Cooled Switches Available Now

High-performance liquid-cooled switches from Cisco, HPE, and Alpha Networks are now available, offering up to 102.4 Tbps per chip with advanced direct-to-chip cooling for AI and HPC data centers.

Cisco Liquid-Cooled Switches

Cisco has developed direct-to-chip liquid-cooled switches, such as the 51.2T switch, designed to handle extreme thermal loads from high-density 400G and 800G ports . Key features include:

• Cooling coverage: Up to 80% of system heat is removed via liquid cooling targeting the CPU, Network Processing Unit (MPU), and front-end optics .
• Energy efficiency: Expected 30–50% energy savings compared to traditional air cooling .
• Cooling medium: Uses a PG25 mixture (75% water, 25% glycol) allowing operation with warm water, avoiding the need for extremely cold chilled water .
• Performance: Supports 64 ports of 800 Gbps OSFP optics, dissipating over 2,000 watts of heat efficiently .

HPE Slingshot 400

HPE's Slingshot 400 liquid-cooled switch is designed for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI clusters . Highlights include:

• Switch ASIC speed: 51.2 Tbps, fully liquid-cooled without fans.
• Optics cooling: 24 optical cages are liquid-cooled to manage high heat from pluggable optics.
• Integration: Interfaces with HPE HPC chassis for dense supercomputing deployments.
• Target use: Supports AI clusters and HPC interconnects, comparable to NVIDIA Spectrum-X deployments .

Alpha Networks 1.6T Liquid-Cooled Switch

Alpha Networks has launched a 1.6T liquid-cooled switch using the Broadcom Tomahawk 6 chip, delivering 102.4 Tbps per chip . Key specifications:

• Direct liquid cooling: Each module removes over 1.8 kW of heat, reducing footprint and acoustic emissions.
• High throughput: 6x increase over previous generation, supporting up to 100,000 GPUs.
• Interfaces: 64-port 1.6T OSFP with DAC/ACC cables and ZR+ optical modules.
• Management: Includes BMC remote management and 1588/PTP precision synchronization.

Global Switch Liquid Cooling Availability

Global Switch offers live demonstrations of multiple liquid cooling technologies in Europe and Asia, including two-phase direct-to-chip and immersion systems . These solutions are available to customers now, providing hands-on experience with operational data center setups.

Summary

Liquid-cooled switches are now commercially available and are particularly suited for AI, HPC, and high-density data centers. They provide:

• Enhanced thermal management for high-speed ASICs and optics.
• Energy efficiency and reduced operational costs.
• Support for extreme bandwidths (up to 102.4 Tbps per chip).
• Flexible deployment options, including hybrid air-liquid cooling or fully liquid-cooled systems. These solutions from Cisco, HPE, Alpha Networks, and Global Switch represent the latest generation of high-performance, energy-efficient networking hardware ready for immediate deployment in demanding data center environments.