Thirty years on, networks are getting smarter<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id<\/p>\n
One of the components in our desktop and notebook computers that
\nwe increasingly cannot do without is the Ethernet card. A more
\nappropriate name is perhaps the Network Interface Card (NIC);
\nhowever, if you were to go into a computer store in Mangga Dua,
\nJakarta, and ask for a NIC, the store attendants might give you a
\nblank look. On the other hand, if you ask for an Ethernet card,
\nthey will immediately offer you at least half a dozen types and
\nmakes to choose from.<\/p>\n
The Ethernet card -- in the form of a standard PCI card or a
\nPCMCIA card -- has a port that is known as the RJ-45. Just plug
\nthe network cable into this port, and you can connect your PC or
\nnotebook to a router, a switch, a printer, a cable modem or, of
\ncourse, another computer. Incidentally, to connect one computer
\ndirectly to another, you will need a crossover cable, in which
\ntwo of the strands need to be intertwined before they are clamped
\ninto the pins of the RJ-45 plug.<\/p>\n
When was the Ethernet born? It was conceived 30 years ago by
\nRobert Metcalfe, who was working at the famous Xerox Palo Alto
\nResearch Center. Xerox PARC was a breeding place for a lot of
\nrevolutionary technologies that shaped the way we use our
\ncomputers today.<\/p>\n
On May 22, thirty years ago, Bob wrote a memo to his colleague
\ndescribing a protocol that would allow computers to exchange
\npackets using carrier sensing, collision detection, randomized
\nretransmission and other technical terms that would interest only
\nstudents in computer science and electrical engineering. At that
\ntime, they were developing the first laser printer, and they
\nneeded a way to let multiple computers access the device they
\nwere working on.<\/p>\n
Over the next three decades, Ethernet had evolved so
\ntremendously that even Bob Metcalfe himself was amazed by it. The
\nEthernet cards that we find in our PCs and notebooks today are
\nusually the 10\/100 version. It means that the card supports two
\nstandard speeds: the 10 megabits per second (Mbit\/s) and the
\nfaster 100 Mbit\/s. However, we already have the one-gigabit and
\neven ten-gigabit Ethernet.<\/p>\n
The 10\/100 Ethernet port has become a standard feature in
\ntoday's computers. Even bare-bone systems -- computers in mini
\nhousing that buyers can configure with the components of their
\nown choice -- come already equipped with it. Even low-cost
\nnotebook computers also have Ethernet ports along with a few USB
\nports. It simply shows the pervasiveness of the technology.<\/p>\n
Although I have not been able to build a wireless network to
\nconnect the four PCs we have at home, at least the three of us in
\nour family have been able to share one broadband Internet access,
\nthanks to the Ethernet.<\/p>\n
And if Gordon Moore came up with Moore's Law, then the now 57-
\nyear-old Metcalfe has also been made immortal with Metcalfe's
\nLaw. It states that the value of a network grows as the square of
\nthe number of the members. Just build your own home network and
\nyou will agree with Metcalfe.<\/p>\n
* The future of network<\/p>\n
The network itself keeps evolving. Not only has the speed
\nincreased exponentially, but the intelligence of the devices that
\nmanage the network and connect it to a larger network and even to
\na network of networks has also advanced significantly. These
\ndevices are usually called the switches; smart computers whose
\ntasks include making sure that data sent by one computer on the
\nnetwork will reach its destination on the most efficient route
\nand at the highest speed achievable.<\/p>\n
Last week, Alex Filloca, the AP marketing manager for
\nAlcatel's eBusiness Networking Division, was very gracious about
\nspending some time with me to explain a few of the current trends
\nin networking technology.<\/p>\n
One of these trends is the concept of Quality of Service
\n(QoS). It means that a network has the ability to provide
\ndifferent levels of service in terms of bandwidth, etc., and it
\nhas enough intelligence to determine which level should be
\nprovided to a particular application.<\/p>\n
For example, applications such as e-mail, data backup and
\nvirus checking do not really require a lot of bandwidth all the
\ntime. On the other hand, applications, such as IP telephony --
\nwhich Alex believes to be not very far away now -- video
\nconferencing over IP and multimedia collaboration in product
\ndevelopment, do require the most network resources they can use.
\nAn intelligent network with QoS capability would be able to
\nidentify what applications are active, give priority to the
\nmission-critical applications and, if necessary, take the
\nresources away from the less important applications that can
\nwait.<\/p>\n
"If you have a slight delay in your telephone conversation
\nbecause of bandwidth congestion, you will get distracted,"
\nexplained Alex, "but if your e-mail arrives 45 seconds late, you
\nwill not even notice it."<\/p>\n
Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is another concept that I
\nlearned about during our conversation. In a typical enterprise, a
\nwork group or an entire division may have to operate in different
\nlocations. However, they usually have only one single physical
\nnetwork -- with Ethernet and perhaps wireless links -- in their
\norganization. A smart network allows us to build one or more of
\nthe VLANs that reside inside the physical LAN, but restricts the
\naccess of the users who are assigned to one VLAN but not the
\nothers.<\/p>\n
So, for example, if I worked in the finance division of my
\norganization, I would have the access to the VLAN of this
\ndivision but I would not be allowed to access the data in the
\nhuman resources division, which has its own VLAN.<\/p>\n
Another concept that I also learned in the area of smart
\nnetworks is the partitioning. As the IT support team usually
\nconsists of people with different levels of skill and knowledge
\n-- and, more importantly, different levels of authority -- the
\npartitioning lets us define what each of them can do. Routine
\nnetwork maintenance, for example, can be left to the junior
\ntechnical support staff, while network fine-tuning should be left
\nto the most senior staff.<\/p>\n
"One of the most important features of the network is the
\ncarrier-class," Alex said. It means that the network should be
\navailable 99.999 percent of the time as expected by users, he
\nsaid. It reminds me of the analogy some people have made between
\nthe dial tone and the IP tone. Each time we pick up the phone, we
\nexpect to hear a dial tone. Similarly, every time we want to
\naccess the Internet we expect the network to be available. Of
\ncourse, those of us who have been using the cable Internet
\nservice from Kabelvision have found out that the IP tone is not
\nalways available -- even though we have to pay the cable company
\nthe same amount every month.<\/p>\n
One of the things that should be done to minimize service
\ndisruption is to incorporate a "self-healing" feature into the
\nnetwork. A smart network, for example, would be able to detect a
\nmisconfiguration or any other kind of human error in setting the
\nconfiguration. "Research has found out that 70 percent of network
\ndowntime is caused by this type of error rather than by the
\nfailure of the physical components," Alex said. So, if a
\nmisconfiguration is detected, a smart network would be able to
\nautomatically roll back and reconfigure itself using the last
\nparameters so that the network can continue to function.<\/p>\n
Alex, of course, referred time and time again to his new
\nproducts -- Alcatel OmniSwitch 6600, 7700 and 8800 -- that boast
\nall of these features plus more. But to those of us who are not
\nenterprise users, which is the target of these products, their
\nfeatures serve to give us a broad picture of how networks have
\nevolved from the day Bob Metcalfe first figured out the Ethernet
\nprotocol.<\/p>",
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