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5/5GbpsEthernetStandardEasesBottleneckedEnterpriseWireless
Networks
By:SimonAssouad|Posted:December1,2014
Today,theresabroaderunderstandingofwhatWiFiisandwhatitcandoforconsumers..ButasIT
administratorsarequicklydiscovering,notallWiFiiscreatedequal,especiallyintheenterprise.
Officeworkersarealreadystartingtoseethebenefitsof802.11acWiFiconnectivityforworkingon
leadingedgesmartphonesandhomenetworkrouters.Thesedevices,whichindustrywatcherscall
Wave1,alreadylinestoreshelves.
Nextyear,ITadministratorsanticipate802.11acWiFiwillexpandintoasecondtier(Wave2)of
productsandintotheenterprise,whereknowledgeworkersareexpectedtoreapthebenefitsof
greaterwirelessrangeandperformanceintheircubiclesandonthego.
AddtheBYOD(bringyourowndevice)trendintothemixandtheuptickindemand(think:
smartphones,tablets,ereadersandlaptops)willsoonoutpacethecapacityofwhatscalledthe
wirelessaccesslayerintheenterprise.
Itsevidentthatthebackboneofthesewirelessaccessnetworks1gigabitpersecondEthernet
cantkeepup.Mostcompaniespushingupagainstthelimitsof1GbpsEthernetarereadytomake
anupgrade,buttheirchoicesarelimited.
Theycaneitherjumpupto10GbpsEthernet,thenextavailableIEEEstandard,oraddasecond,1
Gbpsconnectiontodoublethebandwidth.
Upgradingto10GbpscausesconsiderablegriefforITadministratorsandtheirbottomlinesbecause
itrequiresamajorinvestment,withacompleterewiringandlotsofaddedcosts:moreenergy
requirements,morecabling,moreportsandperhaps,heftierswitchingcapabilities.Addinga
second,1Gbpsconnectionisalsocostlyandrequiressignificantinfrastructurechanges.
NewEthernetSpec
EntertheMGBASETAlliance,anewlyformedindustrygroupannouncedtodaythatintendstohelp
bridgethebandwidthgapfortheenterprisewirelessaccesslayer.
TheAllianceisunitingaroundoneidea:tobringMultirateGigabitEthernetBASETtoenterprise
accesspointstoenablecosteffectivescalingofwirelessnetworkbandwidthbydrivingacceptance
ofanewproposedEthernetstandardatthe2.5Gbpsand5Gbpsspeeds.
TheAllianceisexpectedtopublishanopensourcespecificationavailablefordownloadinthe
comingmonths.CurrentmembersincludeArubaNetworks,Avaya,Broadcom,Brocade,Delta
Electronics,DeltaNetworks,FreescaleSemiconductor,PulseElectronicsandRuijieNetworks,with
moreexpectedtojointhisyear.
IEEEVote
ThenewAlliancecouldntcomeatabettertime.Lastmonth,theIEEEvotedtoformworkinggroup
tostudy2.5/5GbpsEthernetasapossibleindustrywidestandard.
TheAllianceaimstocomplementtheIEEEprocessbyprovidingaforumandanecosystemwhere
cablevendors,chipvendorsandsystemmakerscancometogethertopromotethetechnologyand
driveendtoendinteroperabilityactivities,suchasplugfests.
TheAlliancememberscantaptheirlongstandingtieswiththeIEEEandhelpfacilitateand
supportstandardizationeffortsandarecommittedtoanopensourcespecificationthatisavailable
toeveryone.
InteroperabilityisKey
Whilethespecwillallowenterprisestoavoidbottlenecksinhighbandwidthapplicationsbetween
theuplinkandtheswitch,theAllianceisequallyfocusedonensuringanopenenvironmentto
facilitateinteroperabilitybetweenproducts.
Thisisreallyimportantinthenetworkingindustry,becauseotherwiseeveryvendorwillhaveto
developtheirownuniquetoolsthatmaynotworktogether,orbescalableforlargeorganizations
thatneedtokeeppacewiththeirusersneeds.
Ofcourse,therewillprobablybeplentyofpeoplewhocontinuetobesatisfiedwith1Gbpsspeed,
butthenumberofpremiumuserswhotakeadvantageofthelatestmultiusertechnologyis
boundtogrowwiththeshifttocloudbasedappsthatdownloaddataondemand.
Atworkandonthego,WiFihasbecomeautilitythatsexpectedtobeavailableathigh
performance,atalltimes.Thisisallabouttimingtoenablefastgrowingorganizationstoride
Wave2today.
ReadMore
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NetXtremeCSeriesEasesTransitionto25/50GEthernetinCloudScaleNetworks
By:JimDworkin|Posted:July27,2015
Anyonewhoseverwishedtheycouldclonethemselvestobecomemoreproductivecanunderstand
theappealofnetworkandservervirtualization.
Forthepastdecade,datacenterarchitectshaveleanedonvirtualization,whichenablesacomputer
servertobehaveasifithaddozensofclonesofitselftoincreaseefficiencyandsavecosts.Butthis
efficiencyandcostsavingshasalsoincreaseddemandsonnetworks,whichhavegrownrapidlyin
recentyears.
Withnetworkscreakingundertheweightofeverincreasingdatatraffic,theproblemwillonly
becomeworse.Whilevirtualmachines(orVMs)cantakesomeoftheotherwiseidlecomputing
powerofaserveranddivideuptheworkloadmoreefficiently,therearediminishingreturnson
addingmoreofthem.MarketresearchfirmInfoneticspredictsthatthenumberofVMsthatcloud
scalenetworkoperatorswillstuffintotheaverageserverwillcontinuetogrowoverthenexttwo
yearsto98VMsperserver.ThisincreasesthedemandsonnetworksaseachVMclamorsfor
networkservices.
Themegascaledatacenteroperatorsarealreadygrapplingwiththisproblem.Formanyofthem,
virtualizationcanthappenfastenough.Withincreasingnumbersofbothphysicalandvirtualservers
tomanage,ITdepartmentshavethepotentialtomaximizetheirequipmentwhilereducingcapital
andoperationalexpenses.Butwhataboutscalingthenetwork?
EthernetControllerArchitectureAdvances
Thisweek,BroadcomunveiledtheNetXtremeCSeries,anewEthernetcontrollerproductfamily
thatwillgivedatacenterarchitectsthetoolstheyneedtosupporthigherVMdensityintheir
servers.ItsafirstintheindustryofferingdesignedspecificallyfortheupandcomingEthernetlink
speedsof25or50Gigabitspersecond(Gbps)inthesmallestpackage,whilealsominimizingpower.
TheNetXtremeCSeriesalsosupportsolderlinkspeedsof10and40Gbps.
NewproductsintheseriesincludeBCM57301,BCM57302,BCM57304,P150c,P225c,andM150c.
ThekeytotheNetXtremeCSeriesisafeaturesetcalledTruFlow,anintegratedhardwareengine
whichbringsimprovednetworkingperformanceandmanagementadvantagestocompaniesusing
virtualizationsothattheygetmoreoutoftheirITinfrastructure.
TwoofthethingsthatpressurevirtualizedcomputingenvironmentsareVMtoVMorVMto
networktraffic.Today,virtualizeddatacentersaddressthisthroughaservervSwitch,asoftware
basedvirtualswitchthatdirectsnetworktrafficwithintheserverandcanconsumeabout30percent
ofasystemscentralprocessingunit(CPU).Athighernetworkbandwidthandcomplexity,the
burdenthevSwitchplacesontheCPUwillincrease.
TheadvantageoftheTruFlowengine,whichprocessesnetworkdataflows,ishardwareacceleration
ofthevSwitchprocessing.ThisreducestheCPUprocessingburdenbymovingitintotheNetXtreme
CSeriescontroller.MoreavailableCPUcyclesallowstheoperatortoaddmorerevenuegenerating
VMsonthesameserver.
Related
NewConsortium:Faster,MoreCostEffectiveEthernetPossibleat25/50Gbps
TruFlowalsohelpsmanageatypeofnetworkingtrafficthatbypassesthevSwitch,calledSRIOV,
handingmorecontrolbacktothesystemadministrator.Thismeansorganizationscanseamlesslyset
policiesthatdictatehowthenetworkshouldoperatewhileenjoyingtheperformancebenefitsthat
SRIOVhastooffer.
TruFlowalsoaddressesnetworkcongestion,thepacketgridlockthatcouldimpacttheperformance
andfunctionalityofdatacenterapplications.TruFlowinNetXtremeCSeriescontrollersworks
togetherwiththenetworkswitchestoanticipatecongestion,providingtheopportunitytoavoidit
byadjustingnetworktrafficflows5,000Xfasterwithinthecontroller.Also,theCPUcyclesnormally
devotedtotrafficmanagementcanbereturnedtotheapplication,maximizingtheinvestmentin
servers.
Readyfor25/50G
TheNetXtremeCSeriescontrollersarebilledasanendtoendofferingbecausetheybuildupon
BroadcomspriorannouncementoftheStrataXGSTomahawkEthernetSwitch.Botharesetto
helporganizationsmigrateto25/50GEthernetconnectivityfromtheswitchtotheserver.Italso
reflectsthemomentumofthe25/50GEthernetConsortiumBroadcomcofoundedalmostayear
ago.
Earlierthisyear,theIEEE25GEthernetTaskForceissuedaninitialdraftspecificationtostandardize
25GEthernet,carryingforwardtheeffortsofthe25/50GEthernetConsortium.
TheIEEEandotherindustryleaderscontinuetosupporttheideathatcompaniesneedtheirnetwork
infrastructuretobereadyforwhateverdemandsareplacedontheminthefuture.Broadcomis
leadingthechargetogetnetworkadministratorsthere,faster,withthebestendtoendofferingon
themarket.