High-Radix Crossbar Switches Enabled by Proximity Communication

The paper describes a novel way to implement high-radix crossbar switches. The work is enabled by a new chip interconnect technology called Proximity Communication (PxC) that offers unparalleled chip IO density. First, the paper shows how a crossbar architecture is topologically mapped onto a PxC-enabled Multi-Chip Module (MCM). Then, the paper describes a first prototype implementation of a small-scale switch based on a PxC MCM. Finally, the paper presents a performance analysis of two large-scale switch configurations with 288 ports and 1,728 ports, respectively, contrasting a 1-stage PxC-enabled switch and a multi-stage switch using conventional technology.