IEEE成立了一个新工作小组,专责研究目前新崛起的40/100Gbps乙太网之后的下一代技术。该802.3乙太网频宽评估特别小组(Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment Ad Hoc group),将从现在开始从广泛的来源收集相关资料,并预计在2012年6月提出报告。
针对乙太网的未来,迄今至少有两个阵营提出截然不同的看法:包括Google与Facebook等拥有大型数据中心的公司,都希望最快能在2013年催生Terabit乙太网,以因应不断成长的移动与视频资料,零组件供应商则是偏好较务实的400Gbps方案。
“你会看到供应商与客户之间真的是壁垒分明”IEEE新成立特别小组主席John D'Ambrosia表示:“客户们将不得不妥协并后退一步,因为我们正遭遇物理极限。”D 'Ambrosia同时也任职于数据中心解决方案供应商Force10 Networks的技术长办公室。
零组件设计业者认为,Terabit乙太网的目标是不切实际的。D'Ambrosia指出,目前产业界正面临从10Gbps转移至25Gbps串列速率(serial rates)的挑战,而且将超过16道线路结合到单一网络中是不可行的。
迄今甚至连学术研究机构也尚未进行25Gbps以上串列速率的研发,部分定义25G产品的动力是来自于催生新一代包含4道25G线路的100G产品,以降低第一代采用10道10G线路的乙太网产品之成本与复杂度。
最新乙太网规格802.3ba,是在2010年5月正式生效,定义了40G与100G资料传输速率。“工作小组需要花一些时间来达成两种速率的共识,其中一部分的工作包括深入了解市场对频宽的需求。”也担任802.3ba工作小组主席的D'Ambrosia表示:“我已经学过一次乖,不会再犯同样的错误。”
D'Ambrosia指出,他已经与包括纽约证券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)、电信业者、网际网络交易平台、研发网络、内容供应商、游戏社群网站等等在内的众多资料来源管道接洽,征求各方对网络频宽需求的规划意见:“我很乐意见到最终的报告能以多个章节来呈现各个领域的实际状况。”
在此同时,工程师们也加强火力以25G串列信号来扩充乙太网功能,包括同样由D'Ambrosia所主导的100G乙太网背板与线缆,以及预期同样将采25G串列信号的、针对多模与单模光纤所订定的100G新标准。“产业界现在花了不少时间与金钱在25G技术上。”他指出。
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IEEE looks beyond 100G Ethernet
Rick Merritt
The IEEE has kicked off a new group to explore what comes after today's emerging 40 and 100 Gbit/second versions of Ethernet. The 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment Ad Hoc group is gathering data from a broad range of sources now and plans to submit a report by June 2012.
At least two camps have proposed very different futures for Ethernet to date. Companies such as Google and Facebook that run big data centers have called for Terabit Ethernet as early as 2013 to handle the growth of mobile and video data. Component companies have proposed a more realistic half-step to 400 Gbit/s.
"You are really seeing a division between suppliers and customers," said John D'Ambrosia who chairs the new ad hoc group. "Customers are going to have to go back and sharpen their pencils because we are running into the limits of physics," said D'Ambrosia who is also a member of the CTO's office at Force10 Networks.
Component designers claim the Terabit goal is unrealistic. The industry is currently focused on a relatively challenging move from 10 to 25 Gbit/s serial rates, and bundling more than about 16 lanes into one network is not practical, D'Ambrosia said.
Even academics are not yet engaged in exploring serial rates beyond 25G. Part of the impetus for defining 25G products is to enable a new generation of 100G products based on four lanes of 25G each, reducing cost and complexity of the first-generation products that used ten 10G lanes.
The last major Ethernet standards effort, 802.3ba, was officially ratified in May 2010, defining both 40G and 100G data rates.
"It took some time for the group to reach consensus on doing both rates, and part of that was getting to an understanding of the needs for bandwidth," said D'Ambrosia who also chaired 802.3ba. "I learned my lesson once, and I don’t want to repeat that mistake," he said.
D'Ambrosia said he has been courting a wide range of sources to submit projections of their bandwidth needs to the new group including the New York Stock Exchange, carriers, Internet exchanges, R&D networks, content providers and the gaming community.
"I would love to see a final report with multiple chapters representing each area," he said.
In the meantime, engineers are working at full speed to enable a range of Ethernet capabilities using 25G serial signaling. They include a 100G Ethernet backplane and cabling effort also chaired by D'Ambrosia. Also in the works are new 100G standards for multimode and single-mode fibre optics expected to use 25G signaling.
"The industry is spending a lot of time and money on 25G right now," he said.
"We continue to see exponential broadband growth across the AT&T global IP backbone network, and appreciate the need for next-generation Ethernet standards to stay ahead of consumer demand," said Keith Cambron, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Labs, speaking in a prepared statement.
"It’s critical that Ethernet standards development keeps in front of the real-world needs of the marketplace so that network architectures are able to support growth in traffic without equivalent growth in operational costs and complexity," added Andrew Bach, senior vice president of communications and network infrastructure at NYSE Euronext, also in the press statement.