On the afternoon of January 9, 2019, Huawei held its Spring New Product Release Conference for Networks & "New Network Engine, AI Wins the Future" in Beijing, officially launching the industry's first intelligent data center switch with an embedded AI chip, CloudEngine 16800, marking the arrival of a new era of AI-driven smart networks.
The participating guests and Gartner Research Director Chen Yong first introduced the development history, current status, and application scenarios of AI. Subsequently, Qiu Zijun, Director of the Network Product Team at Ping An Technology, shared the opportunities and challenges faced by Ping An Technology during its digital transformation process. The main demands encountered by Ping An Technology in building Ping An's network data centers are ultra-wide network access and intelligent operation and maintenance, which also reflect the need for automatic network operation and self-optimization in large data center development in the future.
Finally, Hu Kewen, President of Huawei's Network Product Line, introduced the history and market of Huawei CloudEngine, and released new products - the CE16800. It showcases the advantages in addressing the three major challenges faced by data centers in the AI era, representing the arrival of the intelligent network AI era. As one of the leaders in cloud data center networks, Huawei CloudFabric provides solutions to approximately 6,400 customers across multiple industries such as internet, finance, media assets, government, and operators, helping them achieve intent-driven network automation configuration, predictive analysis and continuous optimization of networks, as well as ultra-large bandwidth and low-latency physical network connections. The CloudEngine series switches, as one of the core components of Huawei CloudFabric cloud data center networks, lead the industry trend in data center switches with features such as high-density 100GE, orthogonal architecture, and front and rear air ducts. Since its release in 2012, the sales revenue of the CE12800 has been continuously rising, leading the global market with a compound annual growth rate of 82%. It ranked first in China for three consecutive years in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and its market share in China reached 39% in 2018.
The intelligent data center switch CE16800, independently developed by Huawei, is a further breakthrough and innovation in the industry. The CE16800 is the world's first data center switch with an AI chip built into it, utilizing 12 nanometers FFC technology, achieving performance of up to 8 TFLOPS. The AI chip is paired with Huawei's proprietary intelligent lossless algorithm iLossLess.TMThe CE16800 has achieved zero Ethernet packet loss for the first time, and through deep neural network algorithms, it can achieve intelligent matching between streams and queues. This reduces E2E latency to below 10 microseconds while achieving a throughput rate of 100%. The CE16800 is currently the industry's highest-performance switch: with 48*400GE slots, it can meet the data traffic growth of more than five times over the next six years. The total number of slots reaches 768*400GE, reducing the specific power consumption by 50% while doubling the performance per unit space. Additionally, it has overcome three major challenges of high-density 400G, achieving efficient and energy-saving goals: 1) It has achieved ultra-high-speed interconnection—increasing the electrical signal transmission rate by 30%; 2) The millisecond-level intelligent power module switching based on magnetic blow arc extinguishing technology has increased the power supply efficiency per unit space by 95%; 3) Carbon nanotube thermal conductivity technology, phase change heat exchange technology, and industry-first mixed-flow fans have reduced the power consumption per bit by 50%. At the same time, the CE16800 also has an open intent-driven network. In the field of autonomous driving, its iNetOps intelligent operation and maintenance algorithm can achieve second-level fault identification and minute-level automatic fault location, with an automatic fault location rate of 90%.
In the future, AI will impact IT infrastructure in terms of storage, computing, networks, etc., and drive changes in data center networks from two aspects: On one hand, the operation of AI businesses will put forward new demands on network switching such as ultra-large bandwidth, zero packet loss, and E2E low latency. On the other hand, AI will drive the transformation of networks from manual operations to AIOPS (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations). The zero packet loss, automated adaptation, and low latency of CE16800 enable 100% utilization of data center computing power in the AI era. Efficient transmission and rapid heat dissipation ensure the energy-saving and environmentally friendly characteristics of switches. CE16800 effectively solves problems such as the loss of AI computing power due to traditional Ethernet packet loss, insufficient network support caused by data 'explosion', and long manual network location times, promoting the intelligent transformation of data center networks from a hardware perspective.
In 2018, Huawei proposed the concept of 'Intelligent Simplified Network' based on Intent Networks at the Mobile World Congress. The goal is to build a digital twin world centered around user experience between the physical network and business intentions, through the linkage of network infrastructure to achieve self-management and optimization of the network, ultimately maximizing business value. Huawei's CloudEngine series of data center switches have always led the industry with high performance and high integration, becoming the preferred choice for global enterprises building cloud data centers. The newly released CE16800 has become a focus in the industry due to its intelligence, high density, and low energy consumption. The proprietary AI chip technology and intelligent lossless algorithm iLossLessTMIt enables more efficient resource computing, storage, and integration, driving the automated and intelligent evolution of highly available and scalable data center networks.
Frost & Sullivan, a renowned growth consulting firm in the industry, was invited to participate in this press conference and extended heartfelt congratulations on the release of intelligent data center switches. Previously, Frost & Sullivan has established a deep connection with Huawei and provided objective market research and unique industry insights on technological innovation and market development for Huawei on multiple occasions. In the future, they will further deepen their cooperative relationship to jointly promote the development of smart networks.
Dr. Wang Xin, Global Partner of Frost & Sullivan, Vice President of Global Market Strategy Planning and President of the China Region, pointed out that the explosive growth in data traffic brought about by technologies such as cloud computing, big data, data mining, and AI training has made ordinary switches unable to meet the business requirements of rapid response and zero packet loss. Traditional TCP/IP network protocols are also gradually evolving towards RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet). Today, Huawei has applied AI technology to data center switches, solving problems such as traditional network packet loss, low throughput, and slow response. It plays an important role in promoting enterprise digital transformation and innovation, and has laid a foundation for the development of AI applications in intelligent and simplified networks.
