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Green Ethernet Technology
Green Ethernet Technology is Swlabr Networks’ solution to the energy crisis facing the telecommunications industry. This will only be exacerbated with the planned introduction of 10GE switches into the data centers. It is a completely new approach to the deployment of Ethernet networks that takes into account the physical topology of the existing cable infrastructure to eliminate power hungry Ethernet switches.
Concept:
The typical Ethernet network is similar to that shown in Figure 1a. The uplink,
often from a router, comes to an aggregation switch, located in a telecom
closet.
If this typical tree architecture were changed to a ring architecture, as is shown in Figure 1b, the aggregation switch can be eliminated.
In essence the ring architecture distributes the switching function of the Ethernet switch throughout all the nodes on the Ring. The simple ring architecture has the drawback that if a ring node fails, then the ring is broken. In addition, it would appear from this simple conceptual depiction of the two networks in Figure 1 that a ring would need new cables to be installed to form a Ring. Both drawbacks are addressed in the next section.
Solution:
The legacy Ethernet network cable infrastructure topology is shown in Figure 2a. All of the horizontal plenum cables fan out from the Telecom Closet.
By using this existing topology and interconnecting the horizontal plenum
cables through an analog switch matrix, a resilient, energy-efficient folded
ring network is created as shown in Figure 2b. Should a Ring node fail, or even
go into idle mode, this is detected and
that node is bypassed by the analog switch matrix in the Telecom Closet.
The average length of a horizontal plenum cable is 20 m, but the maximum can be 90 m. If the horizontal plenum cable is greater than 45m in length, then another ring switch, subtended off of the one in the telecom closet can be used. In fact, these switches can be powered by the attached devices using power-over-Ethernet technology, allowing the subtended switches to be installed in ceiling enclosures like the ones proposed by the TIA’s FOLS committee in their FTTE solution.
Conclusion:
The result of implementing a ring architecture with a
central analog switch is an Ethernet network which is extremely low in power
consumption. The elimination of the Ethernet switch would result in a power
savings of 2-3W per GE attached NIC and 25-40 W per 10 GE NIC. It is estimated
that this would save $250-$300 Million annually in electricity costs in the