ICX 7250 and family: Support "Broadcom 2.5G" on SFP+ ports

[adam_jaremko]

I like to request the enablement of "Broadcom 2.5G" and NOT to be confused with MultiGig via Aquantia or the likes.

Obviously, this is a niche request to support the very few SFP modules that sync at such speeds, but they do exist in the market, such as: https://www.sourcephotonics.com/product/sps-34-24t-hp-tdfo/ or any powered by an Intel® FALCTM ONT GPONSFP PEF98035 Chipset PEF98035ETV13 S LLC5.

Such modules do work when the interface is configured with: speed-duplex 1000-full as auto configuration fails but are not running at their default data throughput of 2.5Gbps.

As you're aware the ICX 7250 8 SFP+ ports are divided by 2 WarpCore's, 4 SerDes pairs per core, and us mere end users can observe as much by running the simple command: phy 1/2/1.

And from my past encounters with the WarpCore, it's feasible to run native SerDes 8b/10b 3.125Gbps to achieve a data throughput of 2.5Gbps and most definitely so when the right bits are set, eg.

https://community.broadcom.com/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MID=698164

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32230041-Internet-Bypassing-the-HH3K-up-to-2-5Gbps-using-a-BCM5781...

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32393899-Internet-Bypassing-the-HH3K-up-to-2-5Gbps-using-a-BCM5771...

Hopefully this request doesn't fall on deaf ears and speed-duplex 2500-full works in a future firmware release.

Thanks.

[yani_ioannou]

A more motivating factor for enabling this feature is the availability of 2.5Gbit and 5Gbit NBase-T SFP+ modules.

This is exactly why Ubiquity has enabled this feature in both of its 10Gbit switches, after a similar request, and has actually got quite a bit of a following due to being one of the few switches to support this feature at the moment:

https://community.ui.com/questions/ES-16-XG-and-Aquantia-AQS-107-802-3bz-NBase-T-SFP-Multi-gigabit-T...

[simon_pollard]

Multigig has moved on and we now have dedicated switches for this, if you are looking at the 7250 then the best option is out ICX7150-48ZP which has 16x2.5G ports in addition to 32x1G and 8xSFP/SFP+. All copper ports have PoE+ power. If you need full 2.5/5G multigig then the 7650 range or the ICX7150-C10ZP switch would be most suitable.

SFP+ ports with a 10GBase-T transceiver don't make much sense for APs as there is no PoE power for the APs. 

[Rnerd]

Hello, I was surprised to hear that FTTx/PON market is not targeted by Ruckus. There is the whole concept of “Lennar Homes” that is in collaboration with Ruckus to provide networking to homes with high speed fiber internet.

I was hoping this can be reconsidered for ICX switches. If 2500Basex can be unlocked on SFP+ ports through just a software update, this would certainly be great. I own a 7150-C12P.

Hope to hear back soon!

[jbuonagurio]

SFP+ ports with a 2.5GBase-X transceiver make sense as aggregation links to remote switches that supply PoE power to APs or cameras. It's 2024 (sorry to raise this post from the dead) and Microchip is making brand new outdoor switches with 2.5G SFP. Why not 10G SFP+? I don't know, thermal considerations maybe. Regardless it's very hard to find switches which support these modules, or if they do it's generally undocumented.

[jbuonagurio]

I just wanted to add to this request for 2500BASE-X (2.5GBASE-X) support on the 7150-C12P if possible, or any other ICX switch. This is not just for FTTx/PON! The brand new Microchip PDS-204GCO outdoor PoE switch and other switches based on the Microchip VSC7514 use 2.5G SFP modules for uplink.

The 7150-C12P is based on the Broadcom Hurricane3 ASIC (BCM56160) which has 8 x SGMII / 2500BASE-X PHYs. If the 2 x 10G SFP+ ports are connected there (they are at the same PHY address, 0xa1), I assume 2.5G could be supported natively.

If I could buy some ICX switches that support this already I'd be more than happy to do that, but I don't know that the 7150-C10ZP supports 2.5G SFP modules either? The datasheet only mentions multigig support on copper; uplink ports are still 2 x 10G SFP+.