Ethernet Ascends in AI Back-End Networks, Overtaking InfiniBand: Dell’Oro Group Report Highlights Shifting Landscape
A recent report from leading market research firm, Dell’Oro Group, indicates a significant shift in the high-performance networking landscape for Artificial Intelligence (AI) back-end infrastructure. Published on July 16, 2025, by PR Newswire Telecommunications, the report asserts that Ethernet is emerging as the dominant technology, successfully challenging and increasingly winning over InfiniBand in the critical area of AI back-end networks.
For a considerable period, InfiniBand has been the de facto standard for high-throughput, low-latency interconnects required for demanding AI workloads, particularly within large-scale distributed training environments. Its specialized architecture was engineered to minimize network overhead and maximize data transfer speeds, making it an attractive choice for these computationally intensive tasks.
However, the Dell’Oro Group report suggests that advancements in Ethernet technology are rapidly closing the performance gap, while offering a more cost-effective and broadly supported ecosystem. The report points to several key drivers behind this evolving trend:
- Enhanced Ethernet Capabilities: Newer generations of Ethernet, particularly those supporting higher speeds such as 400 Gbps, 800 Gbps, and the emerging 1.6 Tbps standards, have significantly improved their performance characteristics. These advancements include reduced latency, increased bandwidth, and more efficient congestion control mechanisms, making them increasingly competitive with InfiniBand for AI training.
- Cost-Effectiveness and Scalability: Ethernet benefits from its widespread adoption across various networking sectors, leading to greater economies of scale in manufacturing and broader vendor support. This translates to potentially lower overall costs for deploying and scaling AI infrastructure compared to specialized InfiniBand solutions.
- Unified Network Infrastructure: A growing number of organizations are seeking to consolidate their network infrastructure to simplify management and reduce complexity. Ethernet’s ability to serve both general-purpose networking and high-performance AI interconnects offers a compelling proposition for building a more unified and manageable data center.
- Ecosystem Maturity and Interoperability: The mature and open nature of the Ethernet ecosystem fosters innovation and ensures a wide range of interoperable components from various vendors. This can provide greater flexibility in hardware selection and integration for AI deployments.
- Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Programmability: Advances in SDN and network programmability within Ethernet solutions are empowering greater control and optimization for AI workloads, allowing for more dynamic resource allocation and performance tuning.
While InfiniBand will likely continue to play a role in niche, ultra-low latency applications, the report’s findings suggest that Ethernet is poised to become the preferred interconnect technology for the majority of AI back-end networks due to its compelling blend of performance, cost, and ecosystem advantages. This shift has significant implications for network equipment manufacturers, AI infrastructure designers, and the broader data center industry as it continues to adapt to the ever-growing demands of artificial intelligence.
Ethernet is Winning the War Against InfiniBand in AI Back-End Networks, According to Dell’Oro Group
AI has delivered the news.
The answer to the following question is obtained from Google Gemini.
PR Newswire Telecommunications published ‘Ethernet is Winning the War Against InfiniBand in AI Back-End Networks, According to Dell’Oro Group’ at 2025-07-16 00:00. Please write a detailed article about this news in a polite tone with relevant information. Please reply in English with the article only.