The Transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet Unified Networking: Cisco and Intel Lead the Way

e Transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet Unied Networking: Cisco and Intel Lead the Way
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enable the most ecient use of resources.
is infrastructure is cloud computing.
e cloud is an evolution of computing
that delivers services over the Internet
to consumers and enterprises. Services
scale—as needed and only when needed—
without user intervention. A highly scalable
and ecient cloud architecture is needed
to provide both the technical attributes
and the extreme resource utilization and
eciency that cloud computing promises.
With its reduced hardware requirements,
fewer points of management, and broad
ecosystem support, 10 Gigabit Ethernet
delivers the exible, simplied network
infrastructure needed to support cloud
computing. e following characteristics
make 10 Gigabit Ethernet the ideal fabric
for cloud infrastructure:
• Ubiquity. Ethernet connectivity ships
standard on nearly every server today,
and Ethernet infrastructure is a universal
data center component. When 10
Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard
(LOM) connections are integrated into
the next generation of servers, unied
LAN and SAN connectivity will be a
feature available by default.
• Advanced virtualization support.
Advanced server virtualization enables
dynamic resource allocation and is
required for any cloud computing
infrastructure. Technologies from
companies such as Intel, Cisco, VMware,
and Microsoft are delivering line-rate
10 Gigabit Ethernet throughput and
support for platform virtualization
enhancements.
• Unied networking. A 10 Gigabit
Ethernet unied fabric simplies the
network infrastructure by consolidating
LAN and SAN trac. Recent Ethernet
enhancements help ensure quality of
service (QoS) for critical trac.
THE PROMISE OF
ETHERNET STORAGE
New usage models and the dramatic growth
of data in their organizations have forced
IT administrators to confront complicated
technical and business challenges. Today,
most IT departments deploy separate LAN
and storage networks, with storage often
divided between network-attached storage
(NAS) for le-based applications, and
SAN (Fibre Channel and Small Computer
System Interface over IP [iSCSI]) for block-
based applications. e goal of unied
networking is to allow a single-network
infrastructure, based on 10 Gigabit Ethernet,
to carry all these disparate trac types.
Ethernet has served as a unied data
center fabric for years, supporting LAN,
NAS (Network File System [NFS] and
Common Internet File System [CIFS]),
and iSCSI SAN trac. With recent
Ethernet enhancements and the ratication
of the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
specication, Ethernet adapters based on
IEEE Data Center Bridging (DCB) can
now help connect servers to Fibre Channel
SANs. Extending Ethernet’s ubiquity and
wide familiarity to Fibre Channel SAN
trac will help accelerate the move to 10
Gigabit Ethernet–based I/O consolidation
in virtualized data centers, reduce costs,
and enable simplication and agility.
Given its exibility and long history, it
is not surprising that Ethernet storage
is the fastest growing segment of the
storage systems market. e industry
research rm IDC
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estimates that the
worldwide Ethernet-based storage systems
(NAS and iSCSI SAN) market had a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
of approximately 23 percent between
2005 and 2009 (Figure 3). iSCSI storage
shipments experienced the highest growth
rate (70 percent) from 2005 to 2009, as
a result mainly of broad iSCSI adoption
in Microsoft Windows, virtual server, and
blade server environments.
Industry analysts project continued gains
in the Ethernet storage market share due
to increasing deployment of Ethernet-
only data centers (which use a unied 10
Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure for all data
and storage trac), the emergence of cloud
computing, and the increasing deployment
of FCoE solutions.
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
300,000
50,000
0
Ethernet Compared to Fibre Channel Target Unit Shipments
Fibre Channel Ethernet (iSCSI and NAS)
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Calendar Year
2007 2008 2009
Figure 3. Actual unit shipments for Ethernet and Fibre Channel storage (IDC, 2009).