Google has revealed the remarkable 25-year evolution of its data center network infrastructure. Starting from relatively simple beginnings, the network has had to adapt to the exponential growth of its user base and the demands of Google's services. This led to numerous engineering innovations, culminating in the current fifth-generation Jupiter data center network architecture, which now scales to a staggering 13 Petabits/sec of bisectional bandwidth – enough to support a video call for every person on Earth!
Key principles have guided this evolution, including supporting "anything, anywhere" within the network fabric, predictable low latency, software-defined control, and incremental evolution. Jupiter's dynamic topology, leveraging optical circuit switching and SDN, allows for in-place upgrades and a heterogeneous network supporting multiple hardware generations.
Looking ahead, Google is already working on the next generation of network infrastructure for the age of AI, including the networking needs of its upcoming A3 Ultra VMs with NVIDIA ConnectX-7 and future offerings based on NVIDIA GB200 NVL72. Significant advances in network scale and bandwidth, both per-port and network-wide, are expected in the coming years. Further enhancements to end-host integration, real-time topology engineering, and refinements to host-based load balancing will further improve network reliability and latency.
This journey demonstrates Google's commitment to continuous innovation in networking, ensuring its infrastructure can handle the ever-increasing demands of its users and the groundbreaking capabilities of AI.
