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The hardware examined by ServeTheHome was a 1U OEM/ODM switch built around Innovium’s Teralynx 7 switching ASIC—not necessarily a retail “Innovium switch.” Its 32 QSFP-DD ports could operate at up to 400GbE each, representing 12.8Tbps of line-rate bandwidth per direction. ServeTheHome’s March 2021 lab demonstration drove 400Gbps through every port in both directions, illustrating the density and engineering demands of early 400GbE data-center hardware.
The teardown remains useful in 2026 as a detailed look at how a hyperscale-class switch combines a very large forwarding ASIC with server-style control, management, storage, power, and cooling hardware. It is not, however, a current retail buying guide or proof that every Teralynx 7 platform exposes the same features.
What exactly is the Teralynx 7 switch?
Three different things are easy to confuse:
- Teralynx 7: Innovium’s 12.8Tbps merchant switching ASIC, now part of Marvell’s Teralynx portfolio.
- The 1U switch platform: The complete chassis containing the ASIC, control-plane computer, management interfaces, power supplies, fans, storage, firmware logic, and port cages.
- The deployed product: An OEM or ODM system that may run SONiC or another network operating system and may be sold under a different brand.
ServeTheHome described its sample as an OEM/ODM platform borrowed for evaluation, with Innovium branding applied to the unit. The photos therefore document one representative implementation, not a universal Teralynx 7 enclosure or a clearly identified mass-market SKU. The original teardown is available at ServeTheHome.
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- Ultra-fast 100G & 25G Connectivity – Delivers ultra-high-speed non-blocking throughput with 2 x 100GbE QSFP28, 4 x 25GbE SFP28, and 24 x 10GbE (RJ45) ports. Purpose-built for AI clustering workloads, large-scale NAS deployments, and high-bandwidth enterprise environments.
- Layer 3 Lite-Managed Features – Optimize your IT infrastructure with a robust web GUI supporting IPv4/IPv6 static routing, VLAN, QoS, and bandwidth control. Enables efficient network segmentation and highly secure data routing.
- Top-Of-Rack (ToR) Data Center Design – Engineered for server rooms requiring low-latency connectivity. Perfect for intensive virtualization (VMware ESXi, Hyper-V), enterprise storage area networks (SAN), and high-res media production workflows.
- Lossless Network Performance – Built-in advanced technologies including Priority Flow Control (PFC) and Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN). Minimizes packet loss and bottlenecking, making it ideal for optimizing RoCEv2 and high-speed data transmission.
- Future-Proof Scalabilty – Seamlessly bridge modern 100G/25G fiber optical backbones with existing 10G copper setups. Provides flexible multi-gigabit integration, ensuring cost-effective migration and scalable upgrades for growing businesses.
Why 32×400GbE mattered in 2021
Thirty-two 400GbE ports produce 12.8Tbps in one direction. The same Teralynx 7 generation was designed for configurations up to 64×200GbE or 128×100GbE, depending on the system design, breakout arrangement, optics, and software support. Marvell’s product brief lists support for 10, 25, 40, 50, 100, 200, and 400GbE interfaces.
That radix can change the shape of a network. A 32-port 400GbE switch can serve as a powerful leaf, spine, aggregation, or cluster-fabric device, potentially reducing:
- The number of switches required for a given bandwidth target.
- Cable and transceiver count.
- Power consumed by additional switching tiers.
- Hop count and corresponding latency.
The trade-off is a larger failure domain. Losing one high-radix switch can remove many more links than losing a smaller device. Production designs therefore need redundant fabrics, diverse paths, adequate spare capacity, and an appropriate EVPN, MLAG, or other resiliency strategy.
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External chassis: 32 ports in 1U
The examined chassis is a 1U rackmount system whose front panel is dominated by 32 densely packed QSFP-DD cages. It also includes an RJ45 management port, USB, serial console access, status LEDs, and a large reset button.
QSFP-DD is the form factor used for the 400GbE interfaces in this platform. The high port density is impressive, but it creates mechanical and thermal constraints: every cage must accommodate compatible modules, DACs, or AOCs while the chassis moves enough air through a tightly packed front panel.
Rank #2
- Warranty: Not Included
- Switch: DCS-7280PR3-24-F Arista 7280R3 Series 24-Port 400GbE OSFP Front to Rear Airflow L2 L3 Rackmount Data Center Switch/Router
- Model: DCS-7280PR3-24-F
- Ports: 24x OSFP Ports 400GbE
- Airflow Fans: 3x Front to Rear Airflow Fans
The rear contains hot-swappable fan modules, handles or latches, and redundant power connectors. The sample used an approximately 1.3kW, 80 Plus Platinum redundant power-supply configuration. That rating is the capacity of the PSU arrangement, not the switch’s normal consumption.
Airflow direction matters when installing equipment in a rack. Operators must verify whether a particular OEM model is front-to-back or back-to-front, and whether its airflow direction matches neighboring servers and the facility’s hot-aisle/cold-aisle design. Teralynx 7 does not define one universal chassis layout.
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Inside: a specialized server built around an ASIC
The teardown shows why a high-end Ethernet switch looks increasingly like a specialized server. Its packet-forwarding engine is highly specialized, but the rest of the system includes familiar computing and service hardware.
The Teralynx 7 ASIC
The central switching processor sits beneath a large heatsink. It performs the high-speed forwarding work; the control-plane CPU does not receive and process every packet at 400GbE. The ASIC is the component that supplies the enormous forwarding capacity and programmable data path.
Control-plane computer
The sample uses an Intel Xeon D-1500-series processor. ServeTheHome noted apparent support for Xeon D-1527 and D-1548 options. This CPU runs the network operating system, management services, configuration processes, and other control-plane tasks.
Management and service hardware
An ASPEED AST2520 baseboard-management controller provides server-like out-of-band management functions. The board also includes an M.2 storage slot for the switch SSD, while CPLDs handle platform logic around the port and control sections.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11A dedicated fan-control PCB includes an Altera Max V FPGA. Together with the hot-swappable fans, status indicators, redundant PSUs, and extensive airflow ducting, these components allow the chassis to maintain operating temperatures under a substantial switching and optics load.
Port cooling
Each densely packed QSFP-DD cage in the examined system has its own heatsink. That is important because the thermal budget is not limited to the ASIC. Active 400GbE optical modules can consume substantial power, and their requirements vary by reach, optical technology, DSP implementation, temperature rating, and vendor. A chassis that behaves acceptably with short DACs may have a different power and cooling profile with long-reach optical modules.
ASIC capabilities versus what this chassis proved
Marvell’s Teralynx 7 materials describe a broad ASIC-family feature set, including:
- Up to 12.8Tbps of switching capacity.
- Up to 256 SerDes supporting 10G, 25G, and 50G I/O.
- IPv4 and IPv6 Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding.
- Programmable InnoFlex forwarding pipelines.
- FLASHLIGHT telemetry and analytics.
- VXLAN, Geneve, GRE, MPLS, and IP-in-IP tunneling.
- DCB, RoCE, QCN, cut-through, and store-and-forward operation.
- OCP SAI and SDK support for network-operating-system development.
- Large packet buffers.
These are platform or ASIC-family capabilities. They do not prove that every Teralynx 7 chassis enables every feature, exposes it through its NOS, or supports it with the same firmware and SDK version. Buffer allocation, breakout behavior, telemetry, QoS, RoCE tuning, and tunnel support must be checked against the exact OEM platform.
Rank #4
![Z9432F-ON 32P 400GbE QSFP56-DD SONiC Switch w/ Dual PSU [Rack or Rail Not Included] (Renewed)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/413-T6slrrL._SL160_.jpg)
- Dell Networking Z9432F-ON 32P 400GbE QSFP56-DD SONiC Switch w/ Dual PSU [Rack or Rail Not Included] (Renewed)
How SONiC fits into the design
ServeTheHome showed the switch running SONiC during testing. This illustrates the open-networking model: the OEM supplies a hardware platform, while a network operating system uses the ASIC SDK and hardware abstraction layer to configure forwarding, ports, routing, telemetry, and management.
Marvell has described support for open APIs including OCP SAI and has discussed SONiC-enabled production switch silicon in its ecosystem materials. But “supports SONiC” is not the same as universal plug-and-play compatibility with any current SONiC image.
Before deployment, verify the exact platform’s:
- SONiC image and release support.
- ONIE behavior and installation process.
- SAI and ASIC SDK versions.
- Transceiver EEPROM validation and supported optics.
- BGP, VXLAN/EVPN, ACL, QoS, PFC, ECN, and buffer-management features.
- Warm reboot, upgrade, telemetry, and vendor-support behavior.
Port configurations and topology choices
A 32×400GbE design is not useful only when every connected server has a 400GbE NIC. Depending on the exact platform, ports may be used for higher-speed fabric links, breakout connections, or lower-speed interfaces. The family-level possibilities include:
| Configuration | Potential use |
|---|---|
| 32×400GbE | High-bandwidth leaf, spine, super-spine, storage, or AI/HPC fabric links. |
| 64×200GbE | Higher port count for GPU, server, or fabric connections. |
| 128×100GbE | Dense aggregation or connection to more conventional 100GbE infrastructure. |
The exact breakout map is a system-level detail. Do not assume that every port can be mixed arbitrarily, or that any QSFP-DD breakout cable will work. Confirm the OEM’s port map, FEC requirements, supported transceiver coding, cable type, and NOS behavior.
Host connectivity was a significant limitation in 2021. ServeTheHome noted that approaching 400GbE host bandwidth generally requires a PCIe Gen5 x16-class connection, unless the design uses multiple adapters or multi-host techniques. Older servers may therefore be better matched with 100GbE or 200GbE links even when the fabric switch itself supports 400GbE.
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- 400G ETHERNET CONNECTIVITY — Supports 400GbE connections using 4x100G PAM4 signaling. Designed for short-distance links between compatible Ethernet switches and network adapters in data centers, AI clusters and HPC environments.
- OSFP FLAT TOP CONNECTORS — Features OSFP flat-top connectors on both ends for equipment designed to accept this connector style. Verify your device’s port and cooling requirements before ordering.
- PASSIVE COPPER DAC — Integrated twinax copper cable and connectors provide a direct connection without separate optical transceivers or an external power supply. A practical solution for short-reach Ethernet connections.
- 0.5M SHORT-LENGTH DESIGN — The 0.5m (1.64ft) length suits closely positioned equipment, helping reduce excess cable and keep rack connections organized. Check the required routing distance and allow room for gentle cable bends.
- CHECK DEVICE COMPATIBILITY — Requires compatible OSFP ports, supported 400GbE operation and matching cable coding at both ends. This cable does not convert Ethernet to InfiniBand. Confirm the exact switch or adapter model before purchase.
What the performance test demonstrated
Testing took place in an Innovium lab with Spirent traffic-generation equipment. The setup used a snake configuration, and ServeTheHome reported driving each port at 400Gbps on both the input and output sides. The result showed billions of packets per second and approximately 12.8Tbps of traffic in both directions.
The bandwidth accounting needs care:
- 12.8Tbps: 32 ports × 400GbE, the aggregate line rate in one direction.
- 25.6Tbps aggregate full duplex: 12.8Tbps ingress plus 12.8Tbps egress when both directions are counted together.
That does not mean the ASIC provides 25.6Tbps of one-way switching capacity. The test was a high-throughput demonstration assisted by the vendor’s lab, not an independent long-duration production benchmark covering every packet size, feature combination, failure mode, or software release.
Power and thermal reality
ServeTheHome was told that typical system consumption for the tested configuration was approximately 600W. That should be treated as a reported typical figure for that sample—not as an idle measurement, guaranteed maximum, universal Teralynx 7 specification, or per-port power budget.
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- The Teralynx 7 ASIC.
- The Xeon D control plane, BMC, storage, CPLDs, and FPGA.
- Fans and fan-control electronics.
- Optics, DACs, or AOCs.
- Power-supply conversion losses.
The available teardown does not provide an independent wattmeter trace, idle figure, thermal graph, or component-level optics breakdown. Actual draw will vary with ambient temperature, fan curves, airflow direction, traffic, module type, and the number of active ports. Buyers should request typical and maximum chassis measurements under their intended optics load rather than extrapolating from the 600W report.
Strengths and limitations
Why the design was attractive
- High radix and bandwidth density in a 1U chassis.
- Potentially fewer network tiers, cables, and hops.
- Support for multiple Ethernet speeds and breakout strategies.
- Open-networking options through SONiC, SAI, and SDK integration.
- Programmable forwarding and telemetry capabilities claimed for the ASIC family.
- A demonstrated full-duplex 400GbE line-rate result across all ports.
What makes it difficult to deploy
- Exact OEM identity, firmware, NOS image, and support terms may be unclear.
- High-speed optics can add significant power, heat, and interoperability risk.
- A single failure can affect a large number of links.
- Many hosts cannot consume 400GbE without suitable PCIe and NIC infrastructure.
- SONiC integration requires platform-specific validation and operational expertise.
- Used or gray-market systems may lack current firmware, licensed software, documentation, spares, or RMA coverage.
Is Teralynx 7 still relevant in 2026?
Teralynx 7 is historically important as an early 12.8Tbps-class platform, but it is no longer Marvell’s newest switching generation. Marvell’s later Teralynx 10 is positioned at 51.2Tbps, while Marvell announced the 102.4Tbps Teralynx T100 on June 1, 2026, aimed at newer AI and cloud infrastructure. The T100 announcement described customer sampling; it is not a drop-in replacement or proof of ordinary retail availability.
Existing Teralynx 7 hardware can still make sense for a lab, a controlled cluster, or an organization that already has validated NOS images, optics, spares, and engineering support. A new production deployment should first establish availability, software lifecycle, replacement inventory, and integration support. A newer platform may be preferable where long-term vendor backing, current 400/800GbE optics, or higher radix is more important than reusing inexpensive hardware.
Deployment and purchasing checklist
Before buying a Teralynx 7-based system, request written answers for the exact chassis—not merely the ASIC family:
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- What is the OEM model number and port map?
- Which NOS images and firmware releases are supported?
- Is ONIE available, and which SONiC release is validated?
- Which SAI, SDK, routing, VXLAN/EVPN, RoCE, QoS, PFC, and ECN features work?
- Which 400GbE optics, DACs, AOCs, and breakout cables are qualified?
- What are the FEC, reach, temperature, and module-power limits?
- What are typical and maximum chassis draws with the intended optics installed?
- Is airflow front-to-back or back-to-front, and what fan and PSU spares are available?
- What support, warranty, RMA, documentation, and firmware-access terms apply?
- Can the operator maintain the automation, Linux, NOS, telemetry, and ASIC-SDK stack?
The practical purchase is usually a complete qualified OEM/ODM platform or supported SONiC solution, not bare “Innovium” silicon. Marvell’s product information is available through its data-center switching portfolio, but no public street price or universal retail Teralynx 7 appliance was established for the photographed system.
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