The course is concerned with the design and operation of the network fabrics which interconnect large-scale compute and storage nodes in modern AI GPU clusters, cloud computing systems, and "time-sensitive systems" like financial trading platforms and massive multi-player games. We will consider architectures, protocols and algorithms which enable these network fabrics to deliver deterministic and ultra-low latency at near-CS 100% goodput. Topics include data center fabric architectures - the fat tree topology, transport protocols - congestion control and load balancing, and scheduling algorithms - job scheduling, fabric scheduling and their interaction. A particular focus will be the contrast and synergy between the edge- and network-centric approaches to building high-performance network fabrics. Students will hear from industry experts who design, operate and use large-scale GPU and CPU clusters. Recommended: Knowledge of basic Networking, OS, or Distributed Systems (CS 144, CS 140, or equivalent), as well as basic EE courses (EE 178) will be useful.
2 units · Satisfactory/No Credit
The course is concerned with the design and operation of the network fabrics which interconnect large-scale compute and storage nodes in modern AI GPU clusters, cloud computing systems, and "time-sensitive systems" like financial trading platforms and massive multi-player games. We will consider architectures, protocols and algorithms which enable these network fabrics to deliver deterministic and ultra-low latency at near-100% goodput. Topics include data center fabric architectures - the fat tree topology, transport protocols - congestion control and load balancing, and scheduling algorithms - job scheduling, fabric scheduling and their interaction. A particular focus will be the contrast and synergy between the edge- and network-centric approaches to building high-performance network fabrics. Students will hear from industry experts who design, operate and use large-scale GPU and CPU clusters. Recommended: Knowledge of basic Networking, OS, or Distributed Systems (CS 144, 140, or equivalent), as well as basic EE courses (EE 178) will be useful.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.