ServeTheHome visited an unmarked AWS building to see the company's custom networking hardware, including switches, timing appliances, optical modules, and fiber connectors. The article notes that AWS covered travel expenses, making the tour sponsored, and that AWS reviewed footage to prevent unintended disclosures.
The switch lineup spans several generations: a 3.2Tbps blue chassis with 100GbE ports, a 12.8Tbps green unit with 400G QSFP-DD, a peach 51.2Tbps model with 800G OSFP, and a 102.4Tbps white unit with 1.6Tbps ports using PAM4-224 SerDes. AWS says the 102.4Tbps generation will roll out over coming quarters. A separate 12.8Tbps switch encrypts all traffic at line rate using 16 FPGAs and accepts 400ZR optics for long-haul.
Beyond switches, AWS demonstrated a proprietary time distribution network that is independent of its data and management networks, accurate to 20 microseconds. The lab also featured DWDM modules putting 64 wavelengths on one fiber, hollow-core fiber with roughly 33 percent better latency, and connectors that install 64 fibers in about one second. The source reports that much of this material has not been seen elsewhere, though the lab tour limited what could be filmed.