My TN Connection

Let me jump into the hive of buzz about the data center. Networking in data centers is one of the hot topics for 2007 and has the momentum to buzz beyond 2008. The score of topics such as virtualization and IPTV are evidence of the increasing demands for more data throughput that are going to be put upon data center managers.

The outlook for bandwidth requirements is even driving the industry to look at 100 Gigabit Ethernet and the first applications for this technology will undoubtedly be in the data center. There is a new industry alliance called the Road to 100 Gig that offers more details about the effort.

Of course the IEEE 802.3 group has also formed a task force to look at the needs of users for 40 and 100 Gigabit speeds. See Pat Schaber’s post about IEEE 802.3ba for more information. Intel has a good presentation that maps out the requirements that will be put upon servers in data centers and points out the need for 100 Gigabit Ethernet may be a ways off. The interim step of 40 Gigabit Ethernet will meet the needs for many years to come. This chart from Intel’s presentation shows how Ethernet transitions are too long:

In the networking hardware space it is not unusual for manufactures to develop new technology well ahead of the needs of the marketplace. This coupled with customers typically adopting new technology at a much slower pace than industry experts expect means that we will be talking about 100 Gigabit Ethernet for many years before we actually start buying it.

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