The Impact of Ethernet on Networking in 2020

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BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH 10MB/S SINGLE PAIR ETHERNET - PETER JONES, ETHERNET ALLIANCE AND CISCO

It's hard to believe, but 10 Mbps Ethernet is once again becoming a very popular topic in our industry. People ask me: "Why are we going back to the 1980s?" There is a simple answer, and for those of us who worked in the industry at the time, it is very familiar. In that era, before Ethernet became ubiquitous, networks were like the wild west. Each had its own protocols, physical layers, connectors, etc. However, since then, IT has concentrated a core set of technologies towards Ethernet, which provides uninterrupted communications for billions of people.

If I look up at the ceiling in my office, I see wireless access points that connect to Ethernet. I will also see indicators, temperature sensors, HVAC devices, exit lighting, and many other types of devices that don't. The world of "Operational Technology" looks like IT in the 90s, with such a wide range of physical layers and protocols that it seems like everyone has invented their own (here's the link).

Peter Jones, Distinguished Engineer, Cisco

10Mbps Single Pair Ethernet (10SPE) was approved by the IEEE in November 2019, adding two new physical layer specifications to support data and power over 1000m of single twisted-pair copper cable, and 8-node multilink over 25m of cable . These attributes make it uniquely suited for enabling Ethernet within buildings and industrial automation networks. The Advanced Physical Layer (APL) project is based on 10SPE for work in hazardous areas.

10SPE was designed to meet the needs of building and industrial automation users and simplify and accelerate the transition to Ethernet. This makes the adoption of existing network protocols and services an easy problem to solve, allowing the OT world to access the benefits of 30 years of IT innovation. Now the industry has the opportunity to build a single common network infrastructure for objects.

In the year that Ethernet turns 40, I've been excited about speed since the early days.

ETHERNET: GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY TECHNOLOGY - NATHAN TRACY, ETHERNET ALLIANCE AND TE CONNECTIVITY

2020 will bring another evolutionary step in the growth and dominance of Ethernet as a global communications technology. The same underlying technology that provided cost-effective LAN communications in the office sector 40 years ago continues to find its way into new markets as everyone wants to benefit from the cost, performance and flexibility that Ethernet offers.

New applications that will drive Ethernet solutions in 2020 include wired Ethernet networks in private and commercial vehicles at speeds greater than 10 Gbps, as well as the development of optical Ethernet networks for the transportation industry. Most are already aware of the development of autonomous vehicles and their requirements. However, the sensors, cameras, and control systems that will enable such a marvel of engineering will also require a high-performance Ethernet network to protect passengers, which can also provide all the networked benefits of personal climate control and discrete audio and video entertainment. At the same time, the network must ensure that traffic related to security is prioritized over traffic related to comfort and entertainment..

Nathan Tracy, Managing Director, Industry Standards, TE Connectivity

For industrial, commercial, automotive and home applications, we will see an expansion of the specified Power over Ethernet (PoE) performance as new PoE options are documented and brought to market for a wide range of new applications and systems, from smart buildings to home appliances and the Internet of things, sensors and controls. To ensure that PoE products marketed as meeting these performance levels have been validated by certified third-party labs, the Ethernet Alliance will roll out the next phase of the PoE certification program. Another area of ​​rapid adoption of new Ethernet technology is in applications that enable our homes and businesses to connect to the core network through the development of next-generation Passive Optical Network (PON) technology that will deliver 50 Gb/s aggregate speeds across networks, reaching at least 50 km.

New higher Ethernet data rates will also be coming to market to meet the needs of new video-intensive applications available through cloud networks. To match data rates such as 100 Gb/s, 200 Gb/s and 400 Gb/s, technologists are developing new materials and new architectures that will enable these speeds to overcome what was not possible in the past. Using powerful modeling tools and building on past experience but with new material, we will see Ethernet hardware, optical modules, connectors and cables that enable hyperscale or cloud data center operators to scale to new levels of performance and deliver new services.

Indeed, 2020 will not only be the year that IEEE 802.3 turns 40, but also the year of continued expansion and growth in next-generation Ethernet applications, performance, and data rates.

ETHERNET WILL CONTINUE TO EXPAND TO NEW MARKETS - JIM THEODORAS, ETHERNET ALLIANCE AND HG GENUINE USA

In 2020, Ethernet will continue to expand into new markets and applications. Ethernet is gradually replacing many alternative proprietary protocols due to its many benefits and scale economies. And as bandwidth requirements continue to grow exponentially, Ethernet had to not only get faster, but also move to more complex modulation formats and more parallelization. Instead of bits per second, we are now talking about baud rate; serial links are now N-serial links with embedded frame markers to ensure alignment. If we go back and look at the big picture, Ethernet has evolved from a point-to-point link to the backbone of distributed computing networks everywhere..

Jim Theodoras, Vice President of Research and Development HG Genuine USA

In more detail, 2020 will be another milestone for Ethernet with the advent of the 112Gb/s product line. Although 100 Gigabit Ethernet is not new, achieving this speed in serial links not only makes the third generation of cost-optimized 100 Gigabit Ethernet products available, but also enables the second generation of 400 Gigabit Ethernet and the first 800 Gigabit per second. In the Ethernet ecosystem, everything will have to take a leap forward to operate faster, wider, and in a more complex modulation format. The first generation of 400-gigabit client optical transceivers based on 8x28Gbaud PAM4 will start shipping. At the same time, the first 800 Gigabit/s clients will be demonstrated in 8x100 Gigabit Ethernet and 2x400 Gigabit Ethernet. The promise of cheaper serial links in the form of 400G-ZR should finally be realised.

Since most optical transceivers and active optical cables are consumed in local area networks, it only makes sense to minimize the overhead and directly connect the optics to the silicon ICs inside these fibers. Co-packaged optics are far from production-ready, but by 2020, very important work will be done behind the scenes as the Ethernet industry shifts its technical strength and development funds towards integrating optical communications directly onto a silicon die.

ETHERNET ECOSYSTEM AND CLOUD MACHINE LEARNING - ROB STONE, ETHERNET ALLIANCE AND BROADCOM

Growth in WAN capacity across all sectors has traditionally been driven by two main factors; adding users and adding new applications. While the number of users continues to grow, it is being overshadowed by the bandwidth requirements driven by new applications that eventually require the use of new network technologies to meet demand. One such class of applications that is driving exponential growth in recent years is artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML), in particular convolutional deep neural networks.

Deploying an ML system involves two steps. First, neural network models need to be trained using training datasets. Once the trained models are found to be sufficiently accurate, they are passed to inference engines, where end applications can use the trained model to predict (or "infer") results, given the classification of external data or queries..

Rob Stone, Distinguished Engineer, Broadcom

To speed up the learning process of ML, parallelization involving several separate learning nodes is used. This puts a heavy burden on the network to distribute the training data between the nodes and also during the subsequent training process as the parameters are exchanged between the nodes to improve the accuracy of the model. During output, the end application emphasizes returning the result quickly to minimize the latency seen by the end user, and therefore low latency is critical. For these reasons, all major hyperscale operators have now deployed their own ML hardware, and some offer cloud-based ML as a service for end user applications. The competition between various ML cloud services is forcing carriers to continue investing in network infrastructure upgrades to stay competitive, which in turn encourages the Ethernet community to respond to technologies that support increased bandwidth requirements with challenges of maintaining an acceptable power and cost profile.

However, these internal ML systems are useless unless input can be collected and sent to inference engines to make predictions. Devices such as autonomous vehicles, industrial IoT, and smart homes, offices, and cities use a diverse set of connectivity technologies, wireless (personal area networks as well as local area networks or WiFi), wired, including the use of Power over Ethernet technologies, and cellular ( LTE and 5G). All of these technologies rely heavily on the Ethernet ecosystem to create cost-effective, highly interoperable solutions.

Nathan Tracy is currently on the Board of Directors of the Ethernet Alliance and has been an active member of the organization for the past few years. He is a technologist in the Systems Architecture group and Industry Standards Lead for the Data and Devices business unit at TE Connectivity, responsible for developing standards and working with key customers to create new system architectures. Nathan is also an active member of several industry associations, currently serving as President and Board Member of the OIF, and regularly visiting and contributing to IEEE 802.3 and COBO.

Jim Theodoras is an Ethernet board member and vice president of research and development at HG Genuine USA. He is a seasoned optical communications professional with a well-deserved history of creating new revenue streams through a combination of creativity, market analysis, customer engagement, cross-functional teamwork and accompaniment. He has over 30 years of experience in the electronics and optics industry covering a wide variety of topics. Jim is the former president of the Ethernet Alliance and former optical communications editor for IEEE Communications Magazine. He holds 20 telecommunications patents and is a frequent contributor to industry publications.

Rob Stone, Board of Directors of the Ethernet Alliance, is a Distinguished Engineer on Broadcom's switching architecture team, specializing in data center interconnect, protocol and port development. He is an active member of a number of industry organizations, including IEEE 802.3, COBO and other MSA modules, and chaired the MSA RCx and the 25G Ethernet technical working group. Rob has over 18 years of industry experience bringing communications technology to market. He has held technical and management positions at Intel, Infinera, Emcore, Skorpios and Bandwidth 9.

Peter Jones is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ethernet Alliance and Distinguished Engineer in the Cisco Enterprise Hardware Group. He works on new technologies and system architectures for Cisco switching, routing, and wireless products, and Cisco IoT Networking products. He was a key figure in the development of the Catalyst 3850, Catalyst 3650, and Catalyst 9000 Series switches. In addition to his role as Chairman of the Ethernet Alliance, Peter also chairs the Ethernet Alliance Single Pair Ethernet subcommittee, participates in IEEE 802.3, and chairs the NBASE-T Alliance.

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Source: habr.com