TEKTRONIX DATACENTRES
You have to run more tests to make sure your product is solid
like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are really pushing the technology forward and not necessarily waiting for standards to be completed. “New standards and interface technologies still won’t be enough to keep pace with the large data demands,” according to Boen. That’s why she predicts that datacentres will move closer to the sources of data, and get smaller as a result. This will be especially critical for so-called hot data - that is, data that needs to be acted upon quickly. MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY IN A CHANGING WORLD These broad trends contribute to new testing challenges that must be overcome. The interplay of new standards, approaches, and technologies makes measurement more important than ever before. “Design complexities
and so many are implementing multiple technologies,” Boen says. “If you look at roadmaps of different customers, you’ll see 28GBd PAM4 and also 56GBd NRZ, which is the traditional signalling methodology. They’re doing both to hedge their bets, because they’re not exactly sure what’s going to work best, and the signalling technology might work better in one application versus another.” As Boen explains, there are a few ways manufacturers are trying to adapt to these complexities. “The first thing they’re doing is simulation upfront on how things work. This includes overclocking existing product to see how it’s going to run faster.” Another broad trend in datacentres and wired communication is who is driving technology changes. “In the past, the datacentre interconnect was really driven by IEEE or OIF-CEI,” explains Boen. Now, she says, large datacentre operators
NRZ VERSUS PAM 4
are a lot greater,” says Akerson. “You have to run more tests to make sure your product is solid.” As datacentres and datacenter technology change, the methods we use to measure our designs must change as well. From new modulation schemes to new interconnect protocols, from expanding datacentres to optical links, to big data and the changes in how standards are developed, one aspect of wired communication remains constant: testing will continue to be a critical factor in the success of a project.
Reaching over 13,000
professionals
BRINGING THE WORLD THE LATEST IN OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS NEWS
Keep up to date with the latest industry news , market prospects and new technology . Delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe for FREE today
@opconsnews
opticalconnectionsnews .com
Follow Us
OC18-A4-Half-Page-Subscribe-Ad.indd 1
29/08/2018 10:12
www.opticalconnectionsnews.com
27
ISSUE 14 | Q3 2018
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog