Upgrading Network Architecture to 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Upgrading Data Center Network Architecture to 10 Gigabit Ethernet IT@Intel White Paper
low-latency, no-drop needs, such as FC.
The advent of 10 GbE is enabling us
to converge all our network needs
onto a single, flexible infrastructure.
Several factors are responsible for increasing
the I/O demand on our data centers. First,
when more servers are added to the data
center, it increases input/output operations
per second (IOPS), which creates a proportional
demand on the network. In addition, as each
generation of processors becomes more
complex, the amount of data associated with
silicon design also increases significantly—
again, increasing network demand. Finally,
systems with up to 512 gigabytes (GB)
of memory are becoming more common,
and these systems also need a high-speed
network to read, write, and back up large
amounts of data.
Our upgrade to 10 GbE products will enable us
to consolidate storage for Office and Enterprise
applications while reducing our 10 GbE per-
port cost. When I/O convergence on Ethernet
becomes a reality, multiple traffic types, such
as LAN, storage, and IPC, can be consolidated
onto a single, easy-to-use network fabric. We
have conducted multiple phases of testing, and
in the near future, these 10 GbE ports will be
carrying multiple traffic types.
CONCLUSION
A high-performance 10 GbE data
center infrastructure can simplify
the virtualization of Office and
Enterprise applications and reduce
per-server TCO. In addition, 10 GbE’s
lower network latency and increased
throughput performance can support
our design teams’ high-density
computing needs, improving design
engineer productivity.
Our analysis shows that for a virtualized
environment, a 10 GbE infrastructure can
reduce our network TCO by as much as
18 to 25 percent. And, for design applications,
where low latency is required, 10 GbE can play
a crucial role without requiring expensive low-
latency technology. The new fabric will also
reduce data center complexity and increase
our network’s agility to meet Intel’s growing
data center needs.
ACRONYMS
GbE gigabit Ethernet
GB gigabyte
FC Fibre Channel
HBAs host bus adapter
IOPS input/output operations
per second
IPC interprocess communication
Mb/s megabits per second
MB megabytes
MMF multi-mode fiber
MPO Multi-fiber Push-On
OM3 Optical Multimode 3
SAN storage area network
SFP+ small form-factor pluggable
SMF single-mode fiber
TCO total cost of ownership
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visit www.intel.com/it.
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