IP is the engine behind every part—our favourite streaming providers, the worldwide array of IoT sensors connecting folks and issues, and the workload we entry within the cloud. It’s the coronary heart of our digital world, connecting us like an invisible and chronic presence in on a regular basis life.
Foreseeing IP market calls for
Over the a long time, the trade has launched extra complexity with quite a few layers and extensions to the IP protocol, every designed for a particular use case: MPLS within the core, UDP/VXLAN in knowledge facilities, GTP within the cell trade, and NSH for service chaining. Whereas these bespoke options may match for his or her particular use case, they don’t essentially work collectively. To cross from one community area to a different, you want costly gateways that don’t scale or carry out as required.
At Cisco, we recognized the issue early and performed in-depth analyses to find out the lacking parts essential to make the IP protocol absolutely self-sufficient and get rid of the necessity for shim layers.
Enter Section Routing over IPv6
Section Routing over IPv6 micro-segment (SRv6 uSID) permits the supply of any service end-to-end throughout domains leveraging the IPv6 protocol with no further layers and with out the necessity for any gateway.
SRv6 uSID has revolutionized IP community architectures by simplifying operations, including robustness, and delivering best-in-class person experiences throughout service supplier, hyperscaler, enterprise, and knowledge middle networks.
The important thing advantages of SRv6 embrace:
- Helps any service: SRv6 lets you construct any mixture of underlay, overlay, service chaining, safety service (VPN, slicing, site visitors engineering, extra vitality environment friendly routing, quick reroute (FRR), community features virtualization (NFV)).
- Operates in any area: SRv6 providers might be delivered throughout all domains, together with entry, metro, core, knowledge middle, host, and cloud.
- Allows end-to-end stateless coverage: SRv6 providers might be delivered end-to-end throughout domains utilizing stateless community coverage without having for protocol conversion or gateways at area boundaries.
- Simplifies and enhances reliability: SRv6 offers an easier protocol by eradicating the pointless protocol extension layers (UDP/VXLAN, MPLS, NSH), translating into decrease prices, increased effectivity, and reliability.
- Improves load balancing: SRv6 offers higher load balancing by leveraging the IPv6 circulation label to distribute packets extra evenly throughout a number of paths within the community.
- Supplies supply path management: SRv6 as a supply routing method offers the supply (or the appliance) full management on the forwarding path in a stateless method. This permits higher site visitors placement and cargo balancing for GPU-to-GPU communication in AI backend networks.
These benefits present how SRv6 is altering the sport, proving it’s a key know-how for the way forward for networking.
Driving SRv6 innovation since 2016
Cisco invented the SRv6 uSID idea after intensive evaluation of IP protocol limitations. We dedicated to constructing a strong ecosystem and making certain standardization. Main the SRv6 standardization on the IETF, Cisco has ensured each part is absolutely standardized.
In 2019, we launched SRv6 uSID throughout our portfolio, marking a milestone in IP networking. By 2021, the primary deployment occurred, and right now, over 85,000 Cisco routers use SRv6 uSID, highlighting its widespread adoption and affect.
The place is SRv6 now? On the MPLS & SRv6 AI Internet World Congress important stage
On the 2025 MPLS & SRv6 AI Internet World Congress, SRv6’s rising significance in fashionable community architectures was highlighted. Key improvements included optimized load balancing in AI backend networks, addressing the challenges of long-lasting, high-volume site visitors flows with low entropy for ECMP.
Rita Hui from Microsoft mentioned SRv6’s function in AI backend networks for enhancing site visitors administration, scalability, flexibility, reliability, and redundancy. Alexey Gorovoy from Nebius shared how SRv6 permits unified end-to-end community design throughout knowledge middle and WAN domains, changing legacy VXLAN and MPLS designs.
Rakuten Cellular and Cisco introduced a significant milestone with one of many world’s largest SRv6 uSID IP transport networks, promising unprecedented pace, agility, and on-demand providers for Japanese companies.
Cisco Agile Providers Networking, an structure for AI connectivity, leveraging SRv6 uSID
We’re shifting into the subsequent period of programmability with Cisco Agile Providers Networking, an structure designed to energy AI connectivity and buyer experiences. Agile Providers Networking delivers improved experiences for residential, enterprise, and cell providers with a community that may behave extra autonomously, making it easier and more cost effective to construct, function, and scale from places nearer to finish customers.
SRv6 is a foundational know-how for the Cisco Agile Providers Networking structure, offering end-to-end community coverage and programmability. This permits for clever service supply to seize income by making knowledge and community capabilities consumable.
Getting began with SRv6: Be a part of us at Cisco Reside
Curious about phase routing and SRv6 uSID? Try these beforehand hosted Cisco Reside classes—or, higher but, be part of us at Cisco Reside in San Diego in June.
- SRv6 uSID overview: This Cisco Reside session that was held in Amsterdam helps you be taught the fundamentals and see actual use-case demonstrations like Layer 3 VPN and site visitors engineering.
- Section routing introduction: This Cisco Reside session from Amsterdam covers MPLS and IPv6 fundamentals, advantages of phase routing, and a testimonial from Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) within the Netherlands.
- Superior SRv6 uSID and IP measurements: In this presentation, Alexey Gorovoy of Nebius discusses cutting-edge use instances and front-end knowledge middle design, plus developments in IP measurements attaining 14 million probes per second.
- Service supplier traits: This session explores how phase routing helps autonomous networking and community as a service (NaaS) for B2B providers.
Register to affix us at Cisco Reside Americas in San Diego, and take a look at
these upcoming phase routing classes to be taught extra
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