Download this editorial guide to learn about the trends impacting data center interconnects. The data center interconnect space has seen a wealth of innovation – which means a lot of choices for network operators. From the physical layer to the application of artificial intelligence and open system concepts, the data center interconnect space is rapidly evolving.
Join WESCO and Corning for a BICSI accredited presentation discussing the impact of IoT and 5G on traditional networks, the optical based solutions available and the design options that will help the infrastructure scale with the technology and prepare your business for the massive growth in network traffic that is expected over the next few years.
Today’s networks are more demanding than ever—always on, always reliable, and no downtime regardless of application or environment. Instead of responding to issues once they occur, owners and operators are looking for ways to proactively manage their infrastructure. How can issues be detected and addressed before they happen, so reliability is guaranteed and downtime is eliminated? Imagine being able to detect small acoustic, temperature, and/or strain changes anywhere along an optical cable in an outside-plant environment, continuously, accurately, and in real-time. And depending on the source used, you could have the ability to detect various environmental events at distances from ones to tens of kilometers away, with large numbers of distributed virtual sensors along the path. All this is possible by using optical fiber as an intrinsic sensing medium.
Much has been written about the Internet of Things (IoT) over the last few years, discussing both the explosive growth projections in the number of attached devices and the anticipated value to global business that they will bring. The growth projections alone are staggering. From 2013-2025 the numerical growth shows 100 billion IoT devices globally by 2025 with commercial/industrial electronics, communications and consumer making up the biggest segments.
5G networks are all the buzz. What you may not know is that Corning’s optical fiber will play a role in their delivery. Although you may not realize it, when we are chatting, working, watching movies, or playing games on a wireless network, the wireless nodes are interconnected by a substantial network of optical fiber. Now, with greater expansion of wireless access points for both 4G and 5G networks, more and more fiber will be necessary to meet the growing demands being placed on these networks.
One of the leading technologies allowing network operators to increase network density while leveraging current infrastructure is wavelength-division multiplexers (WDM). Learn what WDM technology involves and why it is critical for the success of next generation bandwidth needs. We’ll tackle some of the questions on how they work, the physical components needed to be successful, and best usages in the telecommunications industry. We’ll also take a few minutes to review where in the networks WDM devices are most commonly found.
The webinar will describe how to implement a spine-and-leaf data center network architecture, how spine-and-leaf is designed to ensure full connectivity among switches. It is also sometimes called full-mesh, and it requires just that—a full mesh of fiber-optic cabling to support all switch-to-switch connections. This presentation describes the spine-and-leaf topology, explaining its characteristics and deployment options. The presentation pays specific attention to the topology’s demands on cabling systems, and approaches to take in order to meet those demands.
As the size of our networks grew during the last decade, we saw a shift from classical 3-tier network architectures to a flatter and wider Spine-and-Leaf architecture. With its fully meshed connectivity approach, Spine-and-Leaf architecture provided us with the predictable high-speed network performance we were craving and reliability in our network switch fabric.
Seasoned industry professionals may recall the excruciating, painstaking days of installing and connecting countless fibers, one at a time. As the number of data centers grew exponentially in the 2000s, designers and installers were tasked with managing hundreds and even thousands of single- and 2-fiber connector solutions. To accommodate the high volume of connectors within ever-tighter space constraints, installers and designers were forced to create more elaborate storage and routing solutions that came with their own set of challenges. Fortunately, those days are long gone – thanks in large part to the emergence of the multi-fiber push-on (MPO) connector. The MPO format dramatically reduced the amount of time, effort, and space required to install and deploy network technologies, particularly in parallel optic applications.
How does fiber actually work? When a device like your computer has information to send, that data starts out as electrical energy. A laser in the computer converts the signals to photons – tiny particles of electromagnetic energy, otherwise known as light – and sends them in rapid succession down the core of the hair-thin fiber. Photons travel in waves through the inner core of the fiber. Because this core region has higher refractive index (i.e. light travels more slowly) than does the fiber’s outer cladding, the light signal is focused within the core and prevented from radiating out of the fiber. In addition, fiber cores are made from very high purity materials (typically Silica and Germania) to assure that the light energy is not absorbed or scattered by impurities. Radiation, absorption, and scattering are all forms of energy loss, also known as attenuation. By keeping such losses as low as possible, fiber allows light and the information it carries to travel great distances from the original source.
