The OSMOSIS Optical Packet Switch for Supercomputers: Enabling Technologies and Measured Performance

The OSMOSIS project explores the role of optics in large-scale interconnection networks for high-performance computing (HPC) systems. Its main objectives are solving the technical challenges to meet the stringent HPC requirements of high bandwidth, low latency, low error rates, and cost-effective scalability. We discuss the technologies and architectural innovations that enabled us to build a demonstration system meeting these targets. We demonstrate the optical performance for the 64 ports @ 40 Gb/s data paths across the semiconductor optical amplifier based optical crossbar, and report on the implementation of the electronic central controller.