Photonic switches promise to have a large impact on future HPC and datacenter networks. However, even if we assume ideal zero-energy photonic switches, we cannot achieve significant system-wide benefits if we do not change the rest of the system architecture. This motivates co-design between emerging photonic switches and the rest of the system in order to adapt the system network to best make use of unique features of photonic switches, as well as tailor photonic switches to better support system-wide trends such as resource disaggregation. In this paper, we discuss the architectural impact of several properties of photonic switches. For each, we provide an overview of what system-level capabilities they enable, how they can be adapted to support ongoing trends, and what other synergistic advancements would produce a better system-wide improvement. In this way, we illustrate the potential benefit of closer collaboration between the photonic and architecture communities.
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