Novell's CTO Predicts How Gigabit Ethernet Will Change Networking
Dr. Glenn Ricart
novell.com
NetWare Connectionrecently interviewed Dr. Glenn Ricart, chief technology officer (CTO) at
Novell Inc. Because Glenn is responsible for the development of Novell's current technologies
and for shaping its future technologies, NetWare Connectionasked Glenn to predict how
Gigabit Ethernet will affect the networking industry. We also asked Glenn to describe how
Novell will take advantage of Gigabit Ethernet.
In this article, Glenn explains why he believes Gigabit Ethernet will be the catalyst for the
"fabled convergence" of voice, video, and data. Glenn also predicts that Novell will be a leader
in acting on this Gigabit Ethernet impetus because Novell has the fastest networking software
available. As a result, Novell's 79 million users, most of whom have Ethernet networks, are
well-poised to upgrade their 10 Mbit/s or 100 Mbit/s connections to Gigabit Ethernet--a step
that Novell itself is already taking.
NC:
What effect will the standardization of Gigabit Ethernet have on the
networking industry?
Glenn:
I think the most important thing about Gigabit Ethernet is that people had
believed, until recently, that we were going to hit a limitation in local wiring
at about 100 Mbit/s. What we're seeing with Gigabit Ethernet is a
networking technology that can deliver high-quality voice and video
directly to users' desktops. And that means we're going to see the fabled
convergence of voice, video, and data connections. Gigabit Ethernet
finally provides enough bandwidth to really make that combination of
connections happen--even with multiple streams.
Gigabit Ethernet--and this is an important point--will give rise to a new
generation of Internet protocols. Internet protocols were designed for a
56 kbit/s backbone, so you now get 56 kbit/s to each workstation.
Because Internet protocols were designed for that older world, they can't
really use the speed Gigabit Ethernet offers. For example, the ability of IP
to use Gigabit Ethernet is severely limited. IP cannot take full advantage of
gigabit speeds because of the amount of overhead IP generates. So the
new generation of Internet protocols will be designed to work well over
fast connections.
NC:
How will Novell be affected by this "fabled convergence"?
Glenn:
Novell, being an historic leader in networking protocols, will be among the
first to help define and make the new generation of Internet protocols
work. And these protocols will allow you to merge video, voice, and data
seamlessly over the network. The result will be a series of communications
appliances as opposed to separate telephones, televisions, and computers.
Because Novell is such an important player in the Internet space, I think
the standardization of Gigabit Ethernet and the subsequent convergence of
these currently varied connections are going to be very positive for us. We
are not a company that is beholden to voice, video, or data. Therefore,
we arethe logical beneficiary of this convergence.
NC:
How will Novell's current and future technologies change to
accommodate Gigabit Ethernet?
Glenn:
Very little, actually, because we already have the fastest networking
software on the planet. Novell alone needs Gigabit Ethernet; no other
networking company has servers that can use more than 100 Mbit/s at this
time. Novell is the only company that can actually take advantage of the
speed of Gigabit Ethernet.
For example, Novell's BorderManager FastCache is many times faster
than any other proxy cache server because our networking software is so
good at moving things off networks. In tests conducted at Novell's facility
in Provo, Utah, one BorderManager FastCache server saturated 31/2 100
Mbit/s Ethernet ports. Normally, a server doesn't come with four network
interface boards. So what's the solution? Gigabit Ethernet. We need
Gigabit Ethernet to support the speed that we're building into our
products.
NC:
Will Novell conduct tests to determine how NetWare compares to
other network operating systems when using Gigabit Ethernet
connections?
Glenn:
We're always happy to talk about the kind of performance we get, which
is completely outstanding. However, it's always somewhat suspicious if we
release test results regarding the performance of other network operating
systems. There are a lot of independent labs that do these comparisons,
which we plaster on our walls because we always win. So we'll let them
do the testing. But I can tell you this before they do: We will win on
speed.
NC:
Does Novell have plans to use Gigabit Ethernet in its own facilities?
Glenn:
Our oldest facility, the Provo facility, has been wired with 10 Mbit/s
Ethernet for more than a decade. We have already upgraded selected
servers and places where higher bandwidth is needed to 100 Mbit/s, but
we have decided to put in a new, uniform Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure.
We are wiring our Provo facility right now with Gigabit Ethernet to the
desktop. During 1998, we're going to install 15,000 Gigabit Ethernet
connections in our Provo facility.
The facility in Orem, Utah, where my office is located, has been running
100 Mbit/s for more than two years, so we're in comparatively good
shape. But over time, Novell is going to be focusing its energies in Provo,
where we're constructing a new building, Building G. Of course, Building
G will be wired with Gigabit Ethernet. In about two years, when
construction is completed, I'm going to trade my 100 Mbit/s connection at
the Orem facility for a Gigabit Ethernet connection in Building G.
Novell is one of the leaders in installing Gigabit Ethernet, but we're
probably not more than two to four years ahead of the rest of the
networking industry. I think you'll see that the adoption rates for Gigabit
Ethernet will be comparable to the adoption rates for Fast
Ethernet--which is to say, faster than most of the network
ing industry predicted. In fact, I've been predicting network events since
the early 1980s. The only thing that has been absolutely consistent about
all of my predictions is that they have not been aggressive enough.
NC:
Do you think Novell's customers will use Gigabit Ethernet for
backbone connections?
Glenn:
To me, this is a no brainer. If you are putting in a backbone on a new
network, you'll want to use the highest speed available. Right now, that
means Gigabit Ethernet over copper or fiber.
NC:
Which would you choose for backbone connections--copper or fiber?
Glenn:
I'm a big believer in fiber. When I was at the University of Maryland about
eight years ago, I rewired the university with fiber. We put fiber in every
office, classroom, and laboratory, making the university the world's largest
fiber installation. Unfortunately, the University of Maryland is probably still
the world's largest fiber installation. Fiber for local wiring has not yet taken
off. Electrical connections are much less expensive.
Even so, I would install fiber for backbone connections because weare
nearing the end of copper bandwidth charts. With Gigabit Ethernet, we've
extended copper capacity farther than many people thought possible. But
we are just beginning to tap the bandwidth that can be accommodated
over fiber. So I'd rather run on fiber at a lower rate than fiber can
accommodate, knowing that I can upgrade to higher speeds.
NC:
Will most network administrators need to upgrade their company's
cabling system for Gigabit Ethernet?
Glenn:
It depends on what they're currently using and when they installed the
cabling system. There are a large number of backbone fiber connections
but not many desktop fiber connections. At Novell's Provo and Orem
facilities, for example, we use fiber for backbone connections and to
individual labs, but we use Category 5 UTP [unshielded twisted pair]
cable to the desktop.
However, many companies don't §yet have Category 5 UTP cable to the
desktop. Companies upgrade their cabling system pretty slowly--on
average, every 15 years. The copper cable everyone originally installed
was what we now know as Category 3 UTP cable, which doesn't support
Gigabit Ethernet. For about the last four years, companies have been
installing Category 5 UTP cable, which does support Gigabit Ethernet
under the 802.3ab specification now being developed. That means anyone
who installed a cabling system more than four years ago might have to
upgrade this cabling system to support Gigabit Ethernet.
The good news is, when network administrators install a new cabling
system and upgrade to Gigabit Ethernet, they won't outrun us because
NetWare is so fast. We know, and our customers know, that Novell has
the highest-performing solution on the plane.
NetWare Connection, April 1998, pp.26-27 |
