Data Center Bridging

Data center

IT productivity and agility depend on how your network is connected as well as the relationship between applications and services and how they communicate. In an effort to help optimize these relationships while empowering IT, Intel is driving Data Center Bridging (DCB), a new collection of standards-based end-to-end networking technologies that make Ethernet the unified fabric for multiple types of traffic in the data center.

The DCB Advantage

Intel is working with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to help develop standards for DCB. These standards will provide:

  • Enhanced performance for Ethernet LAN
  • Lossless fabric for storage traffic on converged networks
  • Deterministic latency for High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) traffic
  • Virtual links by traffic class, applying pause-per-class, and end-to-end congestion management and notification
  • Seamless integration with classical Ethernet networks

In addition, DCB-enabled networks will provide the foundation for next-generation initiatives such as Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).

Standards info

Read standards information from the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee

Simplifying the Data Center

Enabling multiple traffic types to use Ethernet fabric will simplify the data center by reducing the amount of equipment in the infrastructure. By enabling storage traffic over Ethernet, IT can eliminate the need for some storage-specific switches and host bus adapters (HBAs) in the network, creating a simpler network while reducing equipment costs.

As server virtualization and consolidation and 10 Gigabit Ethernet become mainstream data center requirements, DCB will provide the simple, robust, and cost-effective networking needed to use these technologies to their fullest potential.

Commitment to IT

Intel products support DCB in our Ethernet switch silicon and in future Ethernet LAN controllers. Look for updates on this Web page including documents, specifications, and product news regarding DCB.