SC359 Datacenter Networking 101

Sunday, 17 March 2013
9:00 - 12:00

Instructor: Cedric Lam, Hong Liu; Google, USA

Level: Beginner (no background or minimal training is necessary to understand course material)

Description:
This introductory course starts with a review of the network transformations resulted from the rise of Internet computing applications.  We then review the architectural structures of warehouse-scale computers (WSCs) and the networking technologies used to implement WSC datacenters.  This course covers both intra-datacenter and inter-datacenter networks, the challenges facing datacenter operators in the next 3 to 4 years, the need for energy efficient datacenter networking technologies, and the desirable optical networking technologies to sustain the growth of Internet computing applications.

Benefits:
 This course should enable you to:

• Define warehouse-scale computer (WSC) and describe its structure
• Describe the engineering principles and philosophies behind scalable mega-datacenter infrastructures
• Compare different datacenter cluster topologies and switching technologies.
• Compare the differences and similarities between traditional telecommunication networks and booming data-communication networks
• Identify the challenges for intra-datacenter and inter-datacenter communications
• Select suitable optoelectronic interconnect technologies
• Explain the roles of optics in transmission, multiplexing and switching
• Identify designs to realize energy efficient data networks

Audience:
This course is beneficial to optoelectronic engineers, fiber optic transceiver designers and optical transmission engineers who would like to understand the requirements of datacenter networking.  It also benefits network engineers with the knowledge of high-speed optical communication technologies used to realize various datacenter network applications.  For network planners and architects, this course provides outlooks in optical network technology developments in the next 3 to 4 years.

Instructor Biography:

Cedric F. Lam is currently Optical Network Architect at Google.  Before joining Google, he worked at OpVista Inc. as chief system architect, responsible for the development of an ultra-dense WDM transport system with integrated ROADM functionality.  Prior to OpVista, Cedric was senior technical staff member at AT&T Labs-Research.  His research covers broadband optical transport and access networks architectures, optical signal modulation and transmission, passive optical network, HFC, etc.  His current focus is in FTTH and optical networking technologies for data center applications.  Cedric received B.Eng. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Hong Kong with First Class Honors and PhD. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA.
 

Hong Liu is a Member of Technical Staff at Google Platform Advanced Technology, where she is involved in the system architecture and interconnection for large-scale computing platforms.  Her research interests include interconnection networks, high speed signaling, photonic integrated circuit, and optical metro design. Prior to joining Google, Hong was a Member of Technical Staff at Juniper Networks, where she was principally involved in the architecture and design of high-end physical interface cards, network routers, and multi-chassis switches, including  Juniper's flagship core router T640, edge routers M7i/M10i/M120, world’s first OC768 line card and world’s very first switch-matrix TX640. Hong received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.