On the scalability of feedback-based two-stage switch

The feedback-based two-stage switch does not require a central scheduler and can provide close to 100% throughput [3]. But the number of crosspoints required for the two stages of switch fabric is 2N², and the average packet delay performance (even under light traffic load) is on the order of O(N) slots, where N is the switch size. To improve the performance of feedback-based two-stage switch when N is large, we adopt the Clos network for constructing a large switch from a set of smaller feedback-based switch modules. We call it a Clos-feedback switch. The potential problem of packet mis-sequencing is solved by using application-flow based load balancing. With recursive decomposition, a Clos network can degenerate into a Benes network. We show that for a Clos-feedback switch, the number of crosspoints required is reduced to 4N(2 log₂N-1) and the average packet delay is cut down to O(log₂ N) slots.