AN ETHERNET ROADMAP

Scott Kipp

skipp@brocade.com

March 2013

1

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS

PRESENTATION ARE BROCADE VIEWS AND

SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED THE VIEWS

OR POSITIONS OF THE ETHERNET ALLIANCE.

This presentation is being given to work

toward having a position for the Ethernet

Alliance

2

Ethernet Roadmap

• The IEEE defines Ethernet standards and does not

release a roadmap for future standards

• The industry does not have a good understanding of

how Ethernet was developed or where it is headed

• This presentation will look at past Ethernet

developments to give a better understanding of where

Ethernet will likely go in the future

• The emphasis of this presentation is on high-speed

optical interfaces

• BASE-T and Backplane not covered

3

Gigabit Optical Modules and Speeds

3/19/2013 4

100G

10G

1G

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Standard Completed

40G

Da

ta R

ate

an

d L

ine

Ra

te (

b/s)

Key:

Ethernet Speed

GbE

SFP GBIC

1GFC

2GFC

4GFC

8GFC

SC

connector

LC

connector

Acronyms:

GBIC = GigaBit

Interface Converter

SFP – Small Form

factor Pluggable

GFC – Gigabit Fiber

Channel

GbE – Gigabit

Ethernet

Who Uses Gigabit Fiber in Data Centers?

Fibre Channel is >95% optics

This is limited to Switching and not Routing

3/19/2013 5

Ethernet is > 95% copper

Source: Dell’Oro Ethernet Switch Layer 2+3 Report Five Year Forecast, 2013-2017

Gigabit Ethernet Switch Port Shimpents (000s)

Got Copper?

3/19/2013 6

3/19/2013 7

10-100 Gigabit Optical Modules and Speeds

3/19/2013 8

100G

10G

1G

2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Standard Completed

40G

Da

ta R

ate

an

d L

ine

Ra

te (

b/s)

Key:

Ethernet Speed

Fibre Channel

Speed

InfiniBand Speed

New Form Factor

Acronyms:

SFP – Small Form

factor Pluggable

QSFP – Quad Small

Form factor Pluggable

XFP – X (10) Form

Factor Pluggable

Others – don’t worry

about them

16GFC

XENPAK

XPAK

X2

10GbE

SFP+ XFP

32GFC

MPO

Connector

40GbE

QSFP+ Parallel

Optics

300 Pin

MSA

64GFC

40GbE

Generations of 10GbE SFP+ Now Dominates

Month ##, 200# Presentation Title

Generation 1st Gen 2nd Gen 3rd Gen 4th Gen

Optical

Module

300 Pin

MSA

XENPAK XPAK X2 XFP

(Retimed)

SFP+

(Unretimed)

Electrical

Speeds (Gbps)

16 lanes

at 0.644

4 lane at

3.125

4 lane at

3.125

4 lane at

3.125

1 lane at

10.3125

1 lane at

10.3125

Encoding 8b/10b 8b/10b 8b/10b 8b/10b 64b/66b 64b/66b

Availability 2001 2002 2002 2003 2005 2007

300 Pin MSA XENPAK XPAK/X2

XFP SFP+

The Power of 10GbE Switches can cool about 2W/sq inch per module

3/19/2013 10

15

10

5

0

2000 2003 2006 2009 2012

Standard Completed

Mo

du

le P

ow

er

Co

nsu

mp

tio

n (

W)

300 Pin MSA and XENPAK

6.5+ sq inches (13W)

SFP+

1 sq inch (2W)

XPAK and X2

4+ sq inches (8W)

2W

4W

XFP

2 sq inches (4W)

Remove

16:1 Gearbox

Remove

4:1 Gearbox

Improve

Compnonents

Remove

Retimer

8W

Port Density Drives Cost Down More Ports = Lower Cost = Wider Deployments

3/19/2013 11

1U Switch or Modular Switch Blade

2 300 Pin MSA

Ports

4 XENPAK

Ports

8 XPAK or X2

Ports

16 XFP

Ports

48 SFP+

Ports

128 (32) QSFP

Ports

100+ Gigabit Optical Modules and Speeds

3/19/2013 12

1T

100G

10G

2010 2015 2020 2025

Standard Completed

400G

Da

ta R

ate

an

d L

ine

Ra

te (

b/s)

Key:

Ethernet Speed

Fibre Channel

Speed

InfiniBand Speed 400GbE

16X25G

100GbE

10X10G 100GbE

4X25G

128GFC

4X28G

400GbE

8X50G

104G-IB-EDR

4X25G 256GFC

4X56G

512GFC

4X112G

CFP CFP2

Generations of Fibre Channel Serial and Parallel

Month ##, 200# 128GFC Overview

QSFP28

Generation 6th Gen 7th Gen 8th Gen

Optical Modules 32GFC and

128GFC

64GFC and

256GFC

128GFC and

512GFC

Electrical Speeds (Gbps)

Serial / Parallel

1 lane of 28.05/

4 lanes at 28.05

1 lanes of 56.1/

4 lanes at 56.1

1 lane of 112.2/

4 lanes at 112.2

QSFP56 QSFP112?

SFP+ Can this

be done?

Generations of 100GbE Early Stages of 100GbE Still

Month ##, 200# Presentation Title

Generation 1st Gen 2nd Gen

Optical Module CFP CXP CFP2 CFP4 QSFP28

Not LR4

Electrical

Interface (Gb/s)

CAUI – 10

lanes of

retimed

10.3125

CPPI – 10

lanes of

unretimed

10.3125

CAUI,

CPPI

CAUI-4,

CPPI-4

CAUI-4

4 lane at

25.8

CAUI-4

4 lane at

25.8

Availability 2011 2010 2013 2015 2014

CFP

CXP QSFP28

CFP2 CFP4

The Power of 100GBASE-LR4 over Time LR4 won’t fit in QSFP28 for a long time

3/19/2013 15

24

16

8

0

2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

Standard Completed

Po

we

r C

on

su

mp

tio

n (

W)

CFP

16+ sq inches (32W)

3.5W

Remove

4:1 Gearbox

Improve

Compnonents

Improve

Components

12W

CFP2

6+ sq inches

(12W) 6W CFP4

3+ sq inches

(6W) QSFP28

1.5+ sq inches

(3.5W)

Port Density Drives Cost Down More Ports = Lower Cost = Wider Deployments

3/19/2013 16

1U Switch or Modular Switch Blade

4 CFP

Ports

8 CFP2

Ports

16 CFP4

Ports

32 QSFP or CFP4

Ports*

* Probably only low power ports supported – not 100GBASE-LR4

Generations of 400GbE Early Stages of 100GbE Still

Month ##, 200# Presentation Title

Generation 1st Gen 2nd Gen

Optical Module CDFP 4X CFP4 CDFP2

Electrical Interface (Gb/s)

CDAUI–16

16 lanes of

retimed 25G

CDAUI–16

16 lanes of

retimed 25G

CDAUI–8

8 lanes of 50G

Availability 2016 2016 2021?

C = 100

CD = 400

D = 500

Disclaimer

• Roadmaps are based on predictions of the future after

looking back at the past

• Predictions of the future are susceptible to errors that

FEC will not correct

• Predictions more than 5 years out should be viewed

with skepticism and the eventual reality will be decided

by many unforeseen events, including our own actions

• Never the less, an approximate roadmap is better than

no roadmap and we can correct the roadmap over the

years

3/19/2013 18

100G Serial Lanes

• 100G serial lanes have been demonstrated, but they

are high power and usually very costly

• Would you like a 100GbE SFP+?

• Can it be built for under 2W and $1,000?

• We’re just starting to work on 56G serial lanes in OIF

• Let’s look at what we can do with 100G lanes

The building block of Terabit Speeds

3/19/2013 19 ©2012 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. CONFIDENTIAL: For Internal Use Only

Terabit Speeds and Optical Modules and

Speeds 100G Serial, 400G Parallel and up to 1.6 Tbps

3/19/2013 20

1T

100G

10G

2010 2015 2020 2025

Standard Completed

400G

Da

ta R

ate

an

d L

ine

Ra

te (

b/s)

Key:

Ethernet Speed

Fibre Channel

Speed

InfiniBand Speed 400GbE

4X100G

100GbE

1X100G

TbE

10X100G

1.6TbE

16X100G

A Futuristic Roadmap One possible outcome without revolutionary technology

3/19/2013 21

1T

100G

10G

2010 2015 2020 2025

Standard Completed

400G

Da

ta R

ate

an

d L

ine

Ra

te (

b/s)

Key:

Ethernet Speed

Fibre Channel

Speed

InfiniBand Speed 400GbE

16X25G

100GbE

10X10G

100GbE

4X25G

128GFC

4X28G

400GbE

8X50G

104G-IB-EDR

4X25G

400GbE

4X100G

100GbE

1X100G

TbE

10X100G

1.6TbE

16X100G

256GFC

4X56G

512GFC

4X112G

The Road Ahead

• The industry needs to move forward in a way that

lowers the cost/bit

• 400GbE can provide lower cost/bit soon

• TbE can not provide lower cost/bit soon for a few years

• We can always address the bandwidth explosion by

deploying more ports at a lower speed

• The long term solution is to provide fewer ports at

lower cost that run faster

3/19/2013 22

THANK YOU

23