New World Campus networking
N.R. Figueira, Paul Bottorff, Huiwen Li · 2002
The Old World Campus Network's rationale is based on the "locality principle", i.e., most network traffic is local and never leaves the edge of the network. Given this rationale, Closet, Building, and Campus Switches must provide layer 2 and 3 switching, management support, and QoS support. These requirements increase overall costs due to the complexity of operation and management of Closet and Building Switches. Today's client-server model of communication dominates in the campus environment, where most enterprise servers are located at the Data Center: this new model of communication justifies the New World Campus Network's (NWCN) rationale to eliminate needless levels of switching and to keep complex switches at the Data Center. This paper describes the NWCN proposal. In the NWCN, simple electronic 10 Gigabit Ethernet Multiplexors replace Closet Switches, optional DWDM multiplexors replace Building Switches, and a large Data Center Switch Complex performs all switching for the campus network. The NWCN provides a true multimedia network with simple and efficient central QoS handling, central management, and centralized multicast. Results of simulated experiments support the effectiveness of the NWCN proposal.