IMIX throughput?

[hmc250000]

Can someone explain what IMIX throughput is in more laymans terms? Does that mean the device throughput will be limited to this throughput even if the max throughput is higher? I'm trying to make sense of this below.

- Maximum performance based on large packet (1300-byte) payload with AES-128 encryption and DPI turned on

- Internet traffic (IMIX) performance based on average packet size of 417-byte payload with AES-128 encryption and DPI turned on

- Small packet performance based on 64-byte packet size payload with AES-128 encryption and DPI turned on

[dg1sek]

IMIX means Internet Mix, i.e. it is an attempt to simulate real internet traffic with a statistical distribution function. In real traffic, there is a lot of very small (64 byte) packets which correspond to "acknowledgements" of TCP connections, and there is a peak of pretty big (typically around 1500 bytes, which is the maximum size of standard ethernet packets). Some >15 y ago people measured the distributions on a real network and came up with IMIX409 with an AVERAGE packet size of 409 bytes. 

Over time, the traffic profiles are changing. >15y ago not so many people used video, now, especially after Covid, a lot of traffic is video (Teams etc) traffic. The impact on the average packet size of that change is still topic of debate.

What I do not really understand is why Cisco decided to publish the performance data of the Catalyst 8200/8300 based on an IMIX of 352 (average 352 bytes): It seems surprising to use a smaller figure in 2023 than was used initially. It would IMHO make more sense to assume that the average packet sizes have grown, I would think 600 bytes is a more realistic value.