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← All SystemsSystem 08 / networkReviewed Aug 29, 2026

Networks, Storage & Software

Scale-up fabrics, scale-out networks, optics, storage, compilers, and distributed runtimes turn installed chips into productive clusters.

Understand the system

How it works

AI infrastructure succeeds when data and synchronization arrive on time; network, storage, and software stalls are stranded silicon in another form.

Network dependencies

Connecting the scale-out network

Select a capability to explore its role and connections.

Selected: Switching silicon

Switching silicon

Switch ASICs determine port density, throughput, buffering, routing features, power, and supported network topologies.

Explore Switching silicon in Atlas

Selected documented dependencies. Arrows retain their Atlas direction; they do not represent quantities or a complete engineering process.

Large AI systems are data-movement machines. Scale-up links coordinate devices within a node or rack, scale-out fabrics connect thousands more, optics carry signals across distance, and storage streams training data while absorbing checkpoints. Above them, drivers, compilers, kernels, collectives, schedulers, frameworks, and observability software decide whether the physical system behaves like one dependable computer.

Scale-up and scale-out

Scale-up fabrics prioritize tightly coupled accelerator communication; scale-out networks connect racks and pods. The design must match collective patterns, failure domains, and oversubscription targets.

  • Distinguish electrical and optical reaches
  • Map topology to model parallelism

Optics is the distance tax

SerDes, copper cables, transceivers, fibers, connectors, and switches convert and regenerate signals across the cluster. Power, heat, insertion loss, and manufacturing yield rise with bandwidth.

  • Reach determines where electrical links become optical
  • Transceivers are both power loads and supply-chain nodes

Storage protects expensive time

Software is the utilization layer

Compilers, optimized kernels, runtimes, collectives, parallelism strategies, schedulers, and monitoring translate hardware into useful work. Portability and tuning depth shape both economics and resilience.

  • Surface lock-in without assuming equivalence
  • Tie software versions to measured utilization

Featured evidence

Facility-stated storage capacity references

Published capacity figures for Perlmutter all-flash scratch, Aurora DAOS, and the Orion filesystem capacity tier.
Facility-stated capacityPB
View chart values
Facility-stated storage capacity references — underlying values in PB
CategoryFacility-stated capacity
Perlmutter44 PB
Aurora DAOS230 PB
Orion679 PB

FACILITY-STATED CAPACITY — different systems and tier semantics; not measured workload performance, market supply, or a like-for-like procurement comparison.

Key indicators

Key measures & constraints

  1. 01

    Broadcom specifies 102.4 Tb/s of switching capacity for a single Tomahawk 6 Ethernet switch chip.

    Class
    vendor spec
    Geography
    Global
    Period
    Tomahawk 6 generation
    Confidence
    high
    Trace evidence
  2. 02

    PyTorch documents data, fully sharded data, tensor, and pipeline parallelism as complementary approaches for distributed model training.

    Class
    fact
    Geography
    Global
    Period
    2025 documentation
    Confidence
    high
    Trace evidence
  3. 03

    U.S. laboratory documentation states 44 PB for Perlmutter scratch, 230 PB for Aurora DAOS, and a 679 PB usable capacity tier for Orion; these differ in architecture and lifecycle policy and are not interchangeable workload benchmarks.

    Class
    fact
    Geography
    United States
    Period
    Live facility documentation reviewed August 2026
    Confidence
    high
    Trace evidence
  4. 04

    NVIDIA reported Data Center networking revenue of $12.990 billion in fiscal 2025 and $31.376 billion in fiscal 2026, an increase of 142 percent; this is one supplier's audited revenue rather than total network capital expenditure.

    Class
    fact
    Geography
    Global
    Period
    NVIDIA fiscal years 2025 and 2026
    Confidence
    high
    Trace evidence

System map

Connections across the system

Explore inputs, outputs, and shared capabilities in the Atlas. Open the register for every documented relationship.

Across the system boundary Selected documented relationships · arrows follow the Atlas

Enters this system 1

  1. AI rack system→ Scale-out networkTrace relationship

Leaves this system 3

  1. AI rack system← Runtime & frameworksTrace relationship
  2. Accelerator architecture← Runtime & frameworksTrace relationship
System 08Networks, Storage & Software11 internal relationships

Shared capabilities can belong to more than one System. These links carry materials, energy, information, capital, or permissions; they describe dependencies, not quantities or a complete process model.

Explore 10 capabilities and operating boundaries
All documented relationships · 15
  1. criticaloutput

    Drivers, kernels, frameworks, and scheduling convert hardware into useful work.

    Trace relationship
  2. criticalinternal

    Endpoint adapters and switching silicon form the electrical endpoints and forwarding core of the fabric.

    Trace relationship
  3. importantoutput

    Software capabilities and workload behavior feed back into hardware design.

    Trace relationship
  4. importantoutput

    Scale-up links couple accelerators within the rack-scale computer.

    Trace relationship
  5. importantinput

    Rack endpoints attach to the cluster's scale-out switching fabric.

    Trace relationship
  6. importantinternal

    Optical transceivers and fiber carry high-rate links beyond copper reach.

    Trace relationship
  7. importantinternal

    Storage traffic reaches compute through the data-center fabric.

    Trace relationship
  8. importantinternal

    Parallelism and collective libraries shape network traffic and topology needs.

    Trace relationship
  9. importantinternal

    Datasets and checkpoints feed training and recovery workflows.

    Trace relationship
  10. importantinternal

    NICs, SmartNICs & DPUs supplies a distinct operating capability within its broader Atlas system.

    Trace relationship
  11. importantinternal

    Switching silicon supplies a distinct operating capability within its broader Atlas system.

    Trace relationship
  12. importantinternal

    Optical transceivers supplies a distinct operating capability within its broader Atlas system.

    Trace relationship
  13. importantinternal

    Fiber & cabling supplies a distinct operating capability within its broader Atlas system.

    Trace relationship
  14. importantinternal

    Storage media & controllers supplies a distinct operating capability within its broader Atlas system.

    Trace relationship
  15. importantinternal

    Switch ports drive optical modules where electrical reach is insufficient.

    Trace relationship

Named companies + institutions

Organizations & their roles

  1. principal · public company

    NVIDIA

    NVIDIA Corporation

    Computing-platform company that designs AI accelerators, interconnects, systems, and the software stack that operates them.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    Data-center networking platforms · CUDA software platform
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Scale-out network

      NVIDIA's filing-backed operating portfolio includes data-center networking platforms, and the attached quantitative operating or investment measure supports principal status at this Atlas boundary; no subregional operating place is asserted.

    • Runtime & frameworks

      NVIDIA's filing-backed operating portfolio includes cuda software platform; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  2. principal · standards body

    NVM Express

    NVM Express, Inc.

    Standards organization maintaining the NVMe storage interface specifications.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    standards setter
    Products / service
    NVMe storage interface standards
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    Not cataloged
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • AI storage

      Primary-source evidence connects this institution to nvme storage interface standards in the specified Atlas capability.

  3. principal · consortium

    UALink Consortium

    Industry consortium developing a scale-up interconnect specification for accelerator systems.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    standards setter
    Products / service
    accelerator scale-up interconnect specification
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    Not cataloged
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Scale-up fabric

      Primary-source evidence connects this institution to accelerator scale-up interconnect specification in the specified Atlas capability.

  4. material · public company

    Arista Networks

    Arista Networks, Inc.

    Cloud-networking company supplying high-speed switching systems, routing platforms, and network software.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    Network operating software · Switch platforms built around merchant and custom silicon · Data-center switching systems
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Runtime & frameworks

      Arista Networks's filing-backed operating portfolio includes network operating software; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Switching silicon

      Arista Networks's filing-backed operating portfolio includes switch platforms built around merchant and custom silicon; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Scale-out network

      Arista Networks's filing-backed operating portfolio includes data-center switching systems; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

All other organizations · 16
  1. material · public company

    Broadcom

    Broadcom Inc.

    Semiconductor and infrastructure-software company supplying switching, connectivity, custom silicon, storage, and optical components.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier · designer
    Products / service
    Storage connectivity and controller silicon · Network adapters and connectivity silicon · Ethernet switching silicon
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Storage media & controllers

      Broadcom's filing-backed operating portfolio includes storage connectivity and controller silicon; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • NICs, SmartNICs & DPUs

      Broadcom's filing-backed operating portfolio includes network adapters and connectivity silicon; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Switching silicon

      Broadcom's filing-backed operating portfolio includes ethernet switching silicon; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  2. material · public company

    Cisco

    Cisco Systems, Inc.

    Networking and security company supplying switching, routing, optical, observability, and data-center infrastructure.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    Optical networking systems and modules · Network operating and observability software · Data-center switching and routing
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Optical transceivers

      Cisco's filing-backed operating portfolio includes optical networking systems and modules; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Runtime & frameworks

      Cisco's filing-backed operating portfolio includes network operating and observability software; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Scale-out network

      Cisco's filing-backed operating portfolio includes data-center switching and routing; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  3. material · public company

    Equinix

    Equinix, Inc.

    Digital-infrastructure company operating carrier-neutral data centers and interconnection services across global markets.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    operator
    Products / service
    Digital interconnection services
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Scale-out network

      Equinix's filing-backed operating portfolio includes digital interconnection services; the listed places are explicit role geographies, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  4. material · public company

    HPE

    Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

    Enterprise infrastructure company supplying servers, supercomputers, networking, storage, and services.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    Enterprise data storage
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • AI storage

      HPE's filing-backed operating portfolio includes enterprise data storage; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  5. material · public company

    Marvell

    Marvell Technology, Inc.

    Data-infrastructure semiconductor company supplying networking, storage, interconnect, and custom compute silicon.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier · designer
    Products / service
    Storage controller silicon · Switching and connectivity silicon · Electro-optical DSP silicon
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Storage media & controllers

      Marvell's filing-backed operating portfolio includes storage controller silicon; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Switching silicon

      Marvell's filing-backed operating portfolio includes switching and connectivity silicon; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Optical transceivers

      Marvell's filing-backed operating portfolio includes electro-optical dsp silicon; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  6. material · public company

    Micron

    Micron Technology, Inc.

    Memory and storage manufacturer supplying DRAM, HBM, NAND, and related products for AI systems.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    NAND and SSD products
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    Boise
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Storage media & controllers

      Micron's filing-backed operating portfolio includes nand and ssd products; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  7. material · nonprofit

    PyTorch Foundation

    Open-source foundation supporting the PyTorch machine-learning framework and distributed-computing ecosystem.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    standards setter
    Products / service
    distributed machine-learning software
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    Not cataloged
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Runtime & frameworks

      Primary-source evidence connects this institution to distributed machine-learning software in the specified Atlas capability.

  8. material · standards body

    SNIA

    Storage Networking Industry Association

    Industry association developing storage standards, education, and technical guidance.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    standards setter
    Products / service
    AI storage technical guidance
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    Not cataloged
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • AI storage

      Primary-source evidence connects this institution to ai storage technical guidance in the specified Atlas capability.

  9. representative · public company

    AMD

    Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

    Semiconductor company that designs CPUs, GPUs, adaptive computing products, and associated AI software.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    ROCm software platform
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Runtime & frameworks

      AMD's filing-backed operating portfolio includes rocm software platform; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  10. representative · public company

    Coherent

    Coherent Corp.

    Photonics company supplying lasers, optical communications components, transceivers, and engineered materials.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    manufacturer · supplier
    Products / service
    Optical transceivers and communications components · Optical communications components
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Optical transceivers

      Coherent's filing-backed operating portfolio includes optical transceivers and communications components; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Optics & fiber

      Coherent's filing-backed operating portfolio includes optical communications components; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  11. representative · public company

    Corning

    Corning Incorporated

    Materials-science company supplying optical fiber, cable, connectivity products, glass, and ceramic technologies.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    manufacturer · supplier
    Products / service
    Optical fiber and cabling · Data-center optical connectivity
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Fiber & cabling

      Corning's filing-backed operating portfolio includes optical fiber and cabling; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Optics & fiber

      Corning's filing-backed operating portfolio includes data-center optical connectivity; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  12. representative · public company

    Dell Technologies

    Dell Technologies Inc.

    Enterprise technology company supplying servers, storage, networking, and integrated AI infrastructure.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    Enterprise storage systems
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • AI storage

      Dell Technologies's filing-backed operating portfolio includes enterprise storage systems; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  13. representative · public company

    Lumentum

    Lumentum Holdings Inc.

    Optical and photonic-products company supplying components used in cloud, telecom, and industrial laser systems.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    manufacturer · supplier
    Products / service
    Optical communications components · Photonic components for high-speed links
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • Optical transceivers

      Lumentum's filing-backed operating portfolio includes optical communications components; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Optics & fiber

      Lumentum's filing-backed operating portfolio includes photonic components for high-speed links; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  14. representative · public company

    NetApp

    NetApp, Inc.

    Data-infrastructure company supplying file, block, object, and cloud storage systems and software.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier
    Products / service
    Enterprise and cloud data storage
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • AI storage

      NetApp's filing-backed operating portfolio includes enterprise and cloud data storage; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  15. representative · public company

    Seagate

    Seagate Technology Holdings plc

    Mass-capacity-storage company supplying hard-disk drives and storage systems for cloud and enterprise deployments.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier · manufacturer
    Products / service
    Cloud and enterprise storage media · Mass-capacity hard-disk drives
    Documented activity
    World
    Headquarters
    Ireland
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • AI storage

      Seagate's filing-backed operating portfolio includes cloud and enterprise storage media; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Storage media & controllers

      Seagate's filing-backed operating portfolio includes mass-capacity hard-disk drives; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

  16. representative · public company

    Western Digital

    Western Digital Corporation

    Data-storage company supplying hard-disk drives and related technologies for cloud and enterprise infrastructure.

    Roles, locations & evidence
    Role
    supplier · manufacturer
    Products / service
    Capacity storage media · Hard-disk drives and storage technologies · Vertically integrated HDD assembly and test
    Documented activity
    World · Malaysia · Thailand · Philippines
    Headquarters
    United States
    Why this organization belongs in the System
    • AI storage

      Western Digital's filing-backed operating portfolio includes capacity storage media; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Storage media & controllers

      Western Digital's filing-backed operating portfolio includes hard-disk drives and storage technologies; no subregional operating place is asserted, and headquarters is not used as a proxy. Representative status does not imply market rank.

    • Storage media & controllers

      Western Digital's fiscal 2026 audited filing directly locates its HDD assembly-and-test operations in all three countries. Principal status is withheld because this edition does not close a concentration, capacity, shipment, revenue, or installed-base measure for the role.

Read this System in the field guide

Continue in the Volumes

Start with three selected readings, or explore the complete reading list.

Complete reading list
Volume V

Fabric

15 spreads
  1. V · 01The real workload
  2. V · 02Distance has a price
  3. V · 03Scale up
  4. V · 04Scale out
  5. V · 05Endpoints
  6. V · 06Copper and light
  7. V · 07Routes and patching
  8. V · 08Congestion and topology
  9. V · 09The data pipeline
  10. V · 10Checkpoint and restore
  11. V · 11Memory as fabric
  12. V · 12Observe and recover
  13. V · 13Programming stacks
  14. V · 14Parallelism
  15. V · 15Useful work
Related cross-System reading · 11 spreads

Evidence & review

currentEvidence health29 active claims · next review Oct 13, 2026
Active claims
29
Sources
48
High volatility
4
Next review
Oct 13, 2026
Due soon
0
Overdue
0
Superseded
0
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