400G標準啟程 以太網(wǎng)創(chuàng)新再續(xù)傳奇

誕生40年來，以太網(wǎng)創(chuàng)造了一個嶄新的連接世界的奇跡。而今，邁入不惑之年的以太網(wǎng)仍然生機勃勃，繼續(xù)書寫著創(chuàng)新的傳奇篇章。

前不久，國際標準組織IEEE802在北京召開全體會議期間，《網(wǎng)絡世界》出版人兼總編輯高輝采訪了作為IEEE802執(zhí)行委員會記錄秘書的以太網(wǎng)聯(lián)盟主席、戴爾網(wǎng)絡首席技術官辦公室以太網(wǎng)傳播總負責人John D'Ambrosia，請他就以太網(wǎng)最新技術進展與未來趨勢和本報讀者分享看法。

400G標準制定進程啟動

在以太網(wǎng)歷經(jīng)1G、10G、40G、100G的速度提升之后，如今正在邁向令人激動的400G。本次IEEE802全體會議期間，802執(zhí)行委員會首先批準了400G以太網(wǎng)標準工作組成立(其后的3月27日，在獲得802標準委員會通過之后，名為P802.3bs 的400G標準工作組正式成立，由John D'Ambrosia擔任工作組主席，第一屆工作組會議將于今年5月在美國弗吉尼亞州北部舉行)。

在之前John D'Ambrosia負責的400G以太網(wǎng)研究組工作中發(fā)現(xiàn)，在計算領域，帶寬能力每24個月翻一倍，而網(wǎng)絡帶寬則每18個月翻一倍。據(jù)其預測，平均下來，到2015年網(wǎng)絡必須支持TB每秒的能力。到2020年必須支持10TB每秒的能力，這一數(shù)字是2010年的 100倍。

“業(yè)界一直稱我為致力于讓以太網(wǎng)向更高速發(fā)展的推動者。然而，以太網(wǎng)的快速發(fā)展，讓我這個一直強調(diào)高速率的都感到吃驚!” John D'Ambrosia這樣表示。他說：“自從40Gb/s 和 100Gb/s以太網(wǎng)標準制定之后，以太網(wǎng)聯(lián)盟看到了業(yè)界對于更高速度的不斷需求。例如，車載以太網(wǎng)應用就將帶來海量用戶和應用，因此導致巨大的帶寬需求。為了滿足這樣的帶寬需求，以太網(wǎng)必須向更高速度進發(fā)。”

John D'Ambrosia對以太網(wǎng)創(chuàng)新帶來的巨大可能非常興奮，他告訴《網(wǎng)絡世界》記者，他領導的以太網(wǎng)聯(lián)盟非常歡迎IEEE P802.3bs的成立，并已成立了400G分委員會，從而幫助400GbE標準的制定，為促進以太網(wǎng)向下一代更高帶寬演進提供支持。

以太網(wǎng)創(chuàng)新并非輕而易舉

由于應用層創(chuàng)新異常豐富并能夠讓最終用戶感同身受，相比而言，作為基礎聯(lián)網(wǎng)技術的以太網(wǎng)就與人離的較遠，因此許多人就認為以太網(wǎng)已經(jīng)非常成熟，而近年來創(chuàng)新的東西似乎并不太多。對此，John D'Ambrosia表示反對。

“以太網(wǎng)領域有很多層出不窮的創(chuàng)新。在過去短短兩年當中，我們就有12個項目在進行。比如我們做了很多工作來研究如何改善以太網(wǎng)供電、支持車載以太網(wǎng)、不同的銅介質(zhì)和光學介質(zhì)的以太網(wǎng)傳輸方式，以及提升以太網(wǎng)速度等等。所以在我看來，市場上關于以太網(wǎng)沒有太多創(chuàng)新這樣的說法是因為被寵壞了——好像以太網(wǎng)實現(xiàn)的一切都是理所當然，直接接入就可以了。事實上絕沒那么簡單。” John D'Ambrosia還認為，現(xiàn)在的問題并不在于創(chuàng)新不夠，而是在于創(chuàng)新產(chǎn)生的新技術產(chǎn)品的成本是目前市場暫時不能承受的。

這幾年網(wǎng)絡業(yè)的熱點變化非常快，從數(shù)據(jù)中心網(wǎng)絡[注]的TRILL和SPB標準之爭，到目前的SDN[注]、NFV[注]、OpenFlow大熱，短短幾年時間里，熱點層出不窮且迅速轉(zhuǎn)移。對此，John D'Ambrosia說：“把自己陷入一些混亂的技術術語當中是件非常容易的事情，一些人可能希望用這樣一種方式使自己顯得與眾不同或顯得更有知識和能力。如果我們忙于迎合所有的新概念，迎合所有人的需求，那就會失去自己的方向。所以在過去幾年，我一直提醒自己要專注在重要的關鍵領域當中。”

的確，創(chuàng)新無訣竅，只有依靠一步一個腳印的艱苦工作才會有收獲。讓我們一起加入以太網(wǎng)創(chuàng)新洪流，為之推波助瀾。

英文譯文

400G Standard Sets Sail, Ethernet Innovation Builds Upon Its Legend

BY Meng Ke,China Network World

40 years ago, Ethernet was born and created a technical breakthrough by connecting the world. Today, Ethernet continues to build upon its legacy in innovation.

During the IEEE 802 Plenary in Beijing, Network World publisher and chief editor Gao Hui interviewed John D'Ambrosia, Chief Ethernet Evangelist, CTO Office, Dell and Chairman, Board of Directors, Ethernet Alliance where he discussed Ethernet’s latest advancements and future trends.

Kicking off 400G standards

After 1G, 10G, 40G and 100G, Ethernet is breaking through yet again with exciting 400G. At the IEEE 802 Plenary, the IEEE802 executive committee first approved the foundation of the 400G Task Force. (On March 27, after being approved by the IEEE802 standard committee, the 400G Task Force called P802.3bs was officially founded with John D'Ambrosia as the chairman. The first meeting of the Task Force will be held at Virginia in May.)

Research from the 400G Ethernet study group led by John D'Ambrosia had several findings: for computing space, bandwidth capabilities were doubling every 24 months, while network applications were doubling every 18 months. It is forecasted that on average, networks would need to support terabit per second capacities by 2015 and 10 terabit per second capacities by 2020. This is 100 times more than what was required in 2010.

“The industry has always viewed me as the driver of higher speed Ethernet. However, its rapid development surprises even me, a person who has always been pushing for higher speeds,” said John D'Ambrosi. “Since 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s was defined, the Ethernet Alliance saw the industry’s ongoing demand for higher speed. For example, in-vehicle Ethernet applications will bring more users and create more applications, which will create enormous bandwidth demand. To meet these demands, Ethernet has to increase speeds.”

John D'Ambrosia is very excited about the new possibilities created by Ethernet innovations. He said the Ethernet Alliance under his leadership welcomes the establishment of IEEE P802.3bs and has established a 400G committee to help with 400GbE standards and support Ethernet’s evolution of higher speeds.

Ethernet Innovation is Not Easy

While application innovations are abundant and clearly visible to end users, Ethernet, a basic connectivity technology, is more hidden to end users. Therefore, many believe that Ethernet has already matured and innovations in recent years are few in numbers. John D'Ambrosia disagrees with this.

“We are working on a number of innovations in Ethernet. Within the past two years alone, we’ve taken on 12 different projects. For example, we’ve conducted in-depth research on how to improve power over Ethernet, in-vehicle Ethernet, Ethernet transmission over different copper connections and optical connections, as well as improving overall Ethernet speed. I believe that the notion of a lack of Ethernet innovation is unfounded. It seems like everything about Ethernet has been taken for granted and people believe that you can just connect. It’s not that simple,” said John D'Ambrosia. The problem is not that there is a lack of innovation, but that the new technologies and products available today are not affordable.

The networking industry’s hot spots have changed rapidly, from TRILL and SPB of datacenter networking to SDN, NFV and OpenFlow in recent years. John D'Ambrosia said: “It’s very easy to get caught up in the technical jargon and some even use this to show off. If we just embraced any new concept and demand, we would lose our direction. So I’ve been reminding myself to focus solely on the important aspects over the past years.”

Indeed, there is no shortcut to innovation. You can only reap when you have spent the time and effort to sow. Let’s continue to ride the wave of Ethernet innovations.