Authors: John D’Ambrosia, Chairman of the Ethernet Alliance Board of Directors and Chief Ethernet Evangelist in the CTO Office at Dell; and Chauncey Schwartz, Chair of the Ethernet Alliance Marketing Committee and Technology Marketing Manager at QLogic.
The IEEE 802.3 Bandwidth Assessment ad hoc recently released its assessment of future Ethernet bandwidth requirements. While the results held no surprises, their predictions for the next decade paint an increasingly demanding picture: core network average bandwidth requirements will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 58%. Assuming 100 Gigabits per second in 2010, bandwidth demand in 2015 will be 10 times that of 2010, or 1 Terabit per second; by 2020, demand will be 100 times that of 2010, reaching 10 Terabits per second.
Delivering this bandwidth will not just be a function of the core network but a capability required from end-to-end connections across the entire ecosystem of applications and data interaction. Therefore, interoperability among the various components within this ecosystem is critically important. Furthermore, the realization of interoperability and the deployment of products based on open standards will foster competition and help reduce overall costs.
Interoperability is especially vital in Ethernet networks because purchasers have a vast array of products to choose from. Multiple vendors currently offer Network Interface Cards (NICs), edge switches, physical media, core switches and routers, and Ethernet storage products. When IT professionals design an Ethernet network, they might select products from four or five different vendors鈥攄esigners need and expect these components to work together seamlessly. However, while achieving interoperability is a worthy goal, it remains elusive in many areas today.
The global Ethernet ecosystem has been working on fostering interoperability for a decade. With the accelerating pace of IEEE 802 standards and Ethernet evolution, we must strengthen this commitment.
Adapting to Continuous Innovation
You might ask: “Why should I worry about Ethernet interoperability? After all, Ethernet has been deployed for many years and has achieved massive scale. What is the big deal?”
The issue is that business executives and IT managers want their networks to be secure and easy to use, without the fear that different network segments cannot work together. The reality is, even within the hugely successful realm of Ethernet technology, continued innovation in features and performance demands a sharp focus on ensuring interoperability.
In the past two years, with the introduction of 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s Ethernet, the Ethernet ecosystem has evolved to a point where all application domains are seeking to migrate to higher speeds. With the emergence of Data Center Bridging (DCB), there is a promising future of converging Ethernet and storage networks. Without a concentrated focus on achieving and maintaining interoperability, there is a significant risk of service disruptions, not only between newly built networks but also between new and legacy infrastructure.
Vendors, service providers, and users alike require Ethernet interoperability across networks, layers, and generations. The global Ethernet ecosystem is dedicated to making comprehensive, end-to-end interoperability a reality.
Reducing Risk, Cost, and Complexity
For business executives and IT managers, investing in proven interoperable systems addresses major concerns, such as the potential risks, costs, and complexity encountered during scaling.
A prime example is the investment in “plugfests.” Plugfests provide a safe and friendly venue for Ethernet vendors to achieve and demonstrate interoperability with early-stage technology prototypes. The best implementations from multiple projects are connected, one after another, with equipment from different vendors to determine if traffic sent and received performs as expected. If problems arise, all testing parties exchange feedback; in some cases, vendors can make necessary modifications to their prototypes right at the plugfest. Even if on-the-spot modifications are not made, each vendor can return to their labs with creative ideas for solving the issues. For Ethernet vendors, the benefit is that a problem that might take months to resolve independently could potentially be fixed within a week during a plugfest.
For Ethernet technology purchasers, the benefit is a dramatically reduced risk of deployment issues or subsequent service disruptions. However, this is not the whole story. Interoperability leads to fiercer competition. Because of the ability to interoperate with existing Ethernet infrastructure, business executives and IT managers can choose equipment from different vendors without being “locked in” to a single vendor’s proprietary system. Due to competitive forces, purchasers can obtain better pricing. In this way, interoperability stimulates more intense price competition in the market. Simultaneously, during the transition from older to newer technologies, interoperability gives business executives more choice and assurance, while reducing the cost and complexity of scaling and planning.
When business executives and IT managers make investment decisions, proven interoperability is an excellent starting point. Plugfests and other scenarios showcasing interoperability can provide this proof.
Providing End-to-End Assurance
Since the inception of the IEEE 802 standards, the global Ethernet community has recognized the critical role of interoperability in fostering competition. Even stakeholders in vertical industries, such as the automotive industry, are now focusing on Ethernet interoperability.
Achieving interoperability in the Ethernet ecosystem is becoming more challenging than ever before, requiring a more comprehensive perspective than in the past. Previously, Ethernet interoperability simply meant ensuring interoperability among a few vendors at a single specified Ethernet speed. Today, the global Ethernet ecosystem is seeking to guarantee interoperability across network layers and across generations of equipment; simultaneously, it must ensure end-to-end interoperability for this multi-generational equipment across multiple infrastructures at multiple speeds.
The Ethernet Alliance (http://www.ethernetalliance.org/) hosted a Technology Exploration Forum in February 2012, attended by representatives from some of the world’s most successful companies, including Chevron, Comcast, Google, Harris, Intel, and Microsoft. The message from attendees was unmistakably clear: interoperability must be defined far beyond a simple point-to-point connection between one vendor’s component and another’s; connections must also include:
· Between different generations of components from the same vendor,
· Between different chips within the same device,
· Between devices in different network segments within a network,
· Among all components between any two network endpoints.
Service providers and users are seeking to hold vendors accountable for ensuring end-to-end Ethernet interoperability across network layers and across technology generations.
Conclusion
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the bandwidth demands on core networks and other components within the ecosystem are facing severe challenges, as they all require the deployment of new, faster technology-based products. If the deployment of solutions is based on products built on open standards, those solutions will offer advantages of lower risk, reduced cost, and simplified deployment. Of course, while standards-based solutions inherently possess