Google announced the opening of Falcon data transmission technologies, including hardware transport and hardened transport level. They have also transferred the further development of Falcon to the Open Compute initiative. This collaboration aims to jointly develop open specification equipment for equipping data centers.
Falcon is being presented as the next generation Ethernet technology which can increase throughput and improve the effectiveness of data transmission in existing standard networks based on Ethernet and TCP/IP. It is particularly critical for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence networks where throughput and delays play a crucial role.
The Falcon protocol is scalable to the networks of data centers and has been designed to ensure predictable high performance, low delays, flexibility, and expansion. The first support for Falcon will be provided in the network accelerators of the Intel IPU E2000 series, which combines the Ethernet Adapter with a programmable processor. These network accelerators can be integrated into the network stack or system to perform tasks such as traffic management, controlling overload, and analyzing high-level protocols.
To achieve low delays in high-speed Ethernet networks that allow packet loss, Falcon utilizes three principles:
- Detailed measurement of delays between sending a request and receiving a response (ROUND-TRIP TIME)
- Hardware implemented traffic in reference to separate flows
- Fast and accurate re-transmission of packages
In addition, Falcon supports simultaneous circulation through several channels (multipath) and provides support for encryption of connections.
The implementation of Falcon involves the following technologies:
| Technology | Description |
|---|---|
| Carousel | The traffic restriction mechanism that allows regulation of the throughput and intensity of the packet stream for individual hosts. |
| Snap |