10 Gb Ethernet: challenges and opportunities

In 2000, the number of worldwide Internet users were estimated at 360 million, using mostly data and web services. In 2008, the number of worldwide Internet users has reached a staggering 1.6 billion users and the mix of real-time audio and video services are increasing dramatically. Today's 1 gigabit Internet infrastructure is being upgraded to 10 gigabits in order to accommodate an increasing user base using more bandwidth-intensive services. Groups like the Metro Ethernet Forum are championing Ethernet as the wide area connectivity solution of the future. But as Ethernet bit rates continue to increase, switching, intelligent packet routing, deep packet inspection, firewalls, and even the application servers themselves must also increase in speed and performance or the bottleneck will still exist. This eCast topic discusses these challenges and technical innovations being developed to make a 10 gigabit Internet infrastructure and beyond.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• internet
• 10 gigabit
• ethernet
• switching
• intelligent package routing
• deep packet inspection
• firewall
• servers
• speed
• performance
• infrastructure
• bandwidth