Outlook on next generation switches

Digitalization, broadband, fiber-optic transmission, and segmentation are the future development trends of telecom networks and information networks. Therefore, it is necessary to build a comprehensive business platform unrelated to the business type or weak correlation, enables the network to carry multiple services. In this way, it not only achieves great economic benefits in design, construction, operation and maintenance, but also maintains good adaptability to business development, this maximizes the protection of the investment interests of operators and users. At present, with the development of hardware technology, this idea can be fully achieved technically.

Multi-layer Switching 　

Currently, layer-2 switching technology is no longer able to meet users' needs, so layer-3 switching technology is emerging.

Layer-3 switching combines the advantages of layer-2 switches and layer-3 routers in an organic and intelligent manner into a flexible solution that provides line rate performance at all levels. With the continuous promotion and application of layer-3 switches in the market, layer-3 switching technology and its products have been widely used in the construction of enterprise networks/Campus Networks and broadband IP networks, such as man and Smart Community access, market demand and Technology Development boost the in-depth development of such applications. Applications of layer-3 switching penetrate into the edge access layer from the initial backbone layer and the aggregation layer in the middle.

The Next Generation Network will be more intelligent. If Layer 4 to Layer 7 exchange is introduced, the network can identify the applications and services to which each data packet belongs, then this information is applied to send the data packet to the correct path. Therefore, based on the maturity of layer-3 Exchange Technology, layer-4 to layer-7 exchange technology is gradually accepted and applied to a certain extent.

From a technical point of view, although a layer-3 Switch has most of the functions of an enterprise-level router, it is more powerful than a layer-3 Switch, such as network address translation, and cannot be completely replaced by a layer-3 switch. However, with the development of technology, the functions of layer-3 switches will certainly become richer and richer. In addition, although the development of layer-3 switches is good in China, it will take a long process to replace enterprise-level routers.

Optical Switching 　

The rapid and sustained growth of business requires greater network bandwidth to meet the requirements. DWDM technology can effectively solve bandwidth problems, but it is followed by a sharp increase in the number of optical fiber channels and the need for large-capacity optical switches. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) can make full use of the huge bandwidth of the optical fiber, so that the "fiber depletion" problem can be effectively solved. In recent years, DWDM technology has penetrated from long-distance trunk lines to man. Due to the sharp increase in the number of multiplexing wavelength channels, the optical fiber transmission capacity can increase exponentially.

At present, the market scale of optical switches is not large, because optical switches are relatively immature in technology and are the main factor limiting the rapid growth of the optical switch market. It is mainly reflected in the immature Research and Development of Optical Switching Matrix technology. However, with the development of technology, the market scale of optical switches will grow. It is predicted that in the next decade, all-optical switches with functions such as Route Selection and error recovery will gradually occupy a dominant position in switches. OEO still has obvious advantages in networks that transmit at a rate lower than 1 Gbit/s, such as local networks. This high reliability and low cost photovoltaic (OEO) optical Switches are still widely used in low-speed networks.

It is foreseeable that the optical switch composed of optical exchange technology will be gradually popularized and used in the telecom field. With the maturity of various optical switch technologies and other unit technologies, small-scale optical switch devices such as OXC and OADM have been released. The large-scale photoelectric integration with MEMS as the breakthrough point and the large-scale all-optical switching technology as a result have begun to emerge. All-optical switching will play an important role and a huge market in the future optical communication field, and will give birth to another revolution in network technology.

ATM and IP address combination 　

Although the myth of ATM as an all-around technology has been shattered, so far, ATM is still the most suitable communication protocol for multi-service and multi-bit rate application environments. Therefore, as a multi-service platform, integrating various businesses is the main role in the future.

In addition, IP technology will face a lot of problems. For example, QoS of an IP address. At present, many of the solutions are based on the telecom network, but the implementation is very difficult.

Therefore, the integration of ATM and IP addresses is another important development direction. The combination of IP and ATM is a combination of connected ATM and non-connected IP addresses, and also an optimal combination of routing and switching.

Currently, there is no high-speed multi-service support capability Like ATM. Therefore, for telecom networks, ATM is ideal as a multi-service platform for a period of time. Even in the foreseeable future, at the edge of the network, ATM is still indispensable as a business collection point. For this reason, many ATM manufacturers are still trying to improve the performance and capacity of the ATM switch, so that it has a place in the next generation telecommunications network.

There are two ways to combine ATM and IP. The first is overlap between the two. Although QoS can be ensured, the Protocol complexity is increased. The second is the combination of the two, this solution maximizes the advantages of both ATM and IP addresses.

The ATM technology can provide two-layer high-speed switching. The ATM standard has been gradually improved, and its products have been basically mature and widely pushed to the market. However, the integration of ATM and IP is still evolving, and it takes considerable time to unify industrial standards. Therefore, the switch that combines ATM and IP technology will become the mainstream in the future market.

MPLS Switch　

MPLS switches follow the trend of combining ATM and IP addresses. Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a tag exchange technology between Layer 2 and Layer 3. It is specially designed for IP addresses, the high-speed switching capability of the second layer can be combined with the flexibility of the third layer, so that the IP network has high-speed switching, traffic control, QoS and other performance. Its emergence is accompanied by the development of the network.

As MPLS applications keep increasing, MPLS support is no longer an additional requirement for products or networks, but must be a necessary function. In addition, MPLS from the backbone network to the edge network is also an increasingly obvious trend, this process will give the edge network more bandwidth, higher intelligence and more services. In the access network, using MPLS technology to carry Ethernet makes the network easier to upgrade and elastic. Common Ethernet can only process 4000 VLANs in each backbone network. MPLS enables each router to support up to 1 million tags. Therefore, there is no doubt that core router manufacturers support MPLS, such as Huawei Quidway NetEngine products. edge router manufacturers are also paying attention to MPLS.

From the perspective of the overall network development direction, in the future core network, all new operators will establish backbone Internet networks in the first place as optical nodes. MPLS is no longer a single existence, and it will complement the underlying optical devices. The previous IP addresses were the first layer, the second layer, and the third layer. Now, using the basis of MPLS, IP addresses are combined with the underlying optical devices to allow optical cables to identify IP routes, that is, IP-based routing is used to drive the network. In the future, the core of the network is wavelength routing, while the outside is a main road routing. This is the necessity of the core of the large network in the future. For carriers, the relationship between today's network and the future network is that all other networks of today's telecom, such as ddnleased line networks and ATM relay networks, it will be the Access Node of the entire large network in the future. This network will not discard all previous technologies and products, but integrate them, but all applications must be implemented in the form of IP addresses, all things end in the Internet and routing class in the form of IP addresses.

Currently, China's backbone network bandwidth usage is less than 10%. Therefore, how to attract more users to use network resources is a concern of operators and service providers. Router manufacturers all see the best use of MPLS is to integrate networks carrying a variety of different types of services into a single network. Most network operators and service providers believe that using MPLS to unify various services is a long-term development direction.

Ethernet Switch

In addition, Ethernet switches are another important role in the switch market. With the development of the information and communication industry and the advancement of information technology in the national economy, the Ethernet switch market has steadily increased. Ethernet features high performance, high flexibility, relatively simple, and easy to implement. Therefore, Ethernet technology has become the most important LAN construction technology today. In the global data network, Ethernet occupies an absolute advantage in quantity. Therefore, it is obvious that the use of Gigabit Ethernet technology can avoid compatibility issues caused by network upgrades, and reduce the high costs that may result from network upgrades.

Therefore, Gigabit/10-Gigabit Ethernet has great advantages in both technology and practical applications. The application scope of Ethernet switches must also become wider and wider.

At the same time, due to the popularity of network applications, the rapid growth of users, so with the development of the access network technology, Ethernet access switch has become a market with great development potential, it has become another new growth point in the market.