One big subnet

10G Ethernet holds endless possibilities for seamlessly extending enterprise networks into the MAN and across the WAN.

What can an enterprise do with the equivalent of more than 6,000 T-1s worth of bandwidth? Just about anything.

Once 10G Ethernet becomes the backbone of choice for service providers, it opens the door to powerful possibilities. 10G Ethernet provides a natural handoff between corporate and carrier networks without the expense of encapsulation or conversion to SONET, frame relay or ATM. Terabytes could zip across networks like instant messages rather than the imperceptibly moving glaciers they often resemble. LAN, metropolitan-area network (MAN) and WAN connectivity would become one big subnet.

With 10G in the LAN, MAN and WAN, a car maker handling designs for multiple new models could handle backups and database synchronization among Detroit, Munich and Tokyo sites without downtime or waiting for one location's off-peak evening hours. Trillions of bits could traverse the globe easily, either as native Ethernet, packet over SONET or packet over wavelength division multiplex (WDM). Virtual LANs could come and go as fast as project phases were completed.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

What can an enterprise do with the equivalent of more than 6,000 T-1s worth of bandwidth? Just about anything.

Once 10G Ethernet becomes the backbone of choice for service providers, it opens the door to powerful possibilities. 10G Ethernet provides a natural handoff between corporate and carrier networks without the expense of encapsulation or conversion to SONET, frame relay or ATM. Terabytes could zip across networks like instant messages rather than the imperceptibly moving glaciers they often resemble. LAN, metropolitan-area network (MAN) and WAN connectivity would become one big subnet.

With 10G in the LAN, MAN and WAN, a car maker handling designs for multiple new models could handle backups and database synchronization among Detroit, Munich and Tokyo sites without downtime or waiting for one location's off-peak evening hours. Trillions of bits could traverse the globe easily, either as native Ethernet, packet over SONET or packet over wavelength division multiplex (WDM). Virtual LANs could come and go as fast as project phases were completed.

Suddenly, SANs would become as large as enterprise networks, server and database access would no longer be a function of geography, and surplus capacity could be shifted and exploited as needed. If one location suffers a natural disaster, all of its applications and data could be replicated at a different site within minutes.

End-to-end quality of service (QoS) would mean that executives' e-mail could be given priority over end-of-quarter sales numbers hogging most of the available bandwidth, regardless of user or server location. A LAN becomes a WAN, and a WAN becomes the world.

But this lofty vision will have to wait, as full 10G products are only now becoming available and services remain non-existent. The technology is pricey, and some technical shortcomings must be addressed before it scales to WAN thresholds.

Today, most 10G Ethernet ports come in blades for 1G switches. Because of this, throughput typically tops out at about 8G bit/sec. Carriers and equipment vendors point to 2004 as the real starting date for 10G Ethernet. That's when leading vendors such as Cisco, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks and Nortel expect to have switches that perform at 10G bits/sec. And next year will be when Gartner has forecasted that 10G volumes will begin to triple, year after year, going from 5,000 ports sold in 2004 to 185,000 in 2007 (see graphic "Exponential Ethernet").

That's the same time frame in which carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and SBC will have 10G services ready. "I have a placeholder in my plan for next year to be able to fund some of the activity and tests," says Franco Collochio, Ethernet services product director for AT&T. "Late 2004 is our development time frame."

But early adopters, ranging from bandwidth-starved corporations to competitive local exchange carriers, aren't waiting.

"T-3 [45M bit/sec] was not enough bandwidth for us," says Hal Marietta, director of network services for Liberty Healthcare Group, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. "We decided to do more than 1G since we knew we wanted to do SAN replication at some point, without impacting the standard data flow."