THOMAS RITZ & ANDREAS RÜ SSELER HD INFRASTRUCTURE
HD INFRASTRUCTURE IN POPS AND DCS: BENEFITS AND CONSIDERATIONS As networks scale up to meet ever-increasing demands, getting the most out of available space is more important than ever. ‘Bandwidth hunger’ will continue to grow but the cabling backbone and in-building infrastructure required to meet demand can’t just be replaced every few years. It’s crucial to plan for significantly more fibre ports and cables at access points and in data centres. R&M’s Thomas Ritz and Andreas Rü sseler look at high-density infrastructure as a possible solution.
W hen it comes to meeting current and future needs, High Density (HD) network infrastructure is essential. HD cabling and racks support more connections, upgrades, and expansions without increasing physical footprint. By optimising space usage and equipment management, they reduce costs related to installation, maintenance, and downtime. Service providers and DC operators can increase the number of connections without major reconfiguration or adding physical infrastructure and get access to advanced features that make network management and maintenance easier. HD AT POINT OF PRESENCE (POP) At the Point of Presence (PoP), multiple providers house equipment, enabling data exchange between their fibre networks. PoPs benefit significantly from higher density, as it helps them handle the required huge number of connections between users and networks. A PoP can be a room in a building, or an outdoor concrete box measuring just a few metres. It contains Fibre Distribution Frames, used for fibre termination, cross-connection, splicing, and management, as well as Optical Distribution Frames (ODFs), designed for high-density fibre termination.
HD IN THE DATA CENTRE Where 40G/100G requires eight fibres in parallel pairs, DCs continue to move to 400G/800G, requiring 16 or 32 pairs, which significantly boosts cable density. Data centre architectures are moving toward spine-leaf and fibre-dense mesh networks, and EoR/MoR and ToR solutions. The integration of AI accelerators is also increasing. These developments require high-density- products, smart migration, preconfigured solutions, and monitoring/asset management. Hyperscale, Mid-Sized, and Edge DCs can all benefit from higher density cabling and racks for several critical reasons. Regardless of size, every data centre currently needs to optimise space usage to accommodate more connections without boosting size and energy requirements. High- density setups maintain footprints while enhancing energy efficiency, helping ensure compliance with regulatory, reporting and auditing requirements, and environmental goals. Modular designs make it easy to incrementally add capacity without overhauling existing setups. Higher density solutions also enable more robust network designs with better redundancy options - essential for maintaining uptime and reliability. Hyperscale DCs, which support vast amounts of data processing and storage, need to scale especially
How to ensure your PoP high-density rack and cabling solution is efficient, scalable, and reliable? Cables that combine a very high fibre count with easy handling are a must. That means avoiding full- size connectors and finding ways to minimise or simplify repeat unplugging and reconfiguration. It should be easy to (un)plug connectors, change polarity, unlock connectors from SFP transceivers, and protect cables, patch cords, ferrules, and housings from environmental effects. Obviously, space is at a premium in PoPs - there’s no permanent on-site staff presence. Connectivity solutions should have minimal space, maintenance, and management requirements. HD maximises port capacity, boosts the number of connections, and supports more robust, redundant designs, improving network performance and reliability. It becomes easy to add backup devices and create multiple redundant paths for data transmission. If one path fails, data is rerouted through another, minimising downtime. Bandwidth usage can be optimised, and traffic distributed evenly across the network, reducing congestion, and improving overall performance. Furthermore, leveraging redundant connections means maintenance and upgrades can be carried out more smoothly, with minimal interruptions.
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| ISSUE 38 | Q3 2024
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