Energy-adaptive Network Switching via Intra-device Scaling

Hodkin, Matthew and Krug, Louise and Garraghan, Peter (2024) Energy-adaptive Network Switching via Intra-device Scaling. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Communications: Scaling the Peaks of Global Communications :. IEEE, USA. (In Press)

Text (Energy_adaptive_Network_Switching_via_Intra_device_Scaling-2)
Energy_adaptive_Network_Switching_via_Intra_device_Scaling-2.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (342kB)

Abstract

We propose horizontal intra-device scaling for network switches. Our approach allows for a network device to dynamically scale energy use in response to changing network utilization at a finergrain in comparison to existing monolithic approaches, and enables a reduction in cost and environmental impact via reduced network energy use outside peak operating periods. We demonstrate the feasibility of intra-device switch scaling by designing a network switch architecture comprising multiple, less powerful, network devices leveraging a Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP) to operate in parallel in place of a singular powerful device. Our preliminary results demonstrate that our approach can reduce total network energy use by 66.3% in comparison to established approaches with minimal performance penalty, and outlines future work for further improvement for this new form of network switch architecture for reducing energy use within core network infrastructure.