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NABIL KHALIL, EXECUTIVE
VICE-PRESIDENT, R&M MIDDLE
EAST, TURKEY AND AFRICA
EDITOR’S QUESTION
Internal data centre traffic is expected
to grow by 80% over the next three
years. As a result, there is a real risk of
networks becoming bandwidth bottlenecks.
As a standard practice, organisations must
now move away from traditional lowdensity
cabling to high-density modular
structured cable solutions. By doing so,
they can implement physical network
infrastructure in a far more manageable
and flexible manner. Furthermore, these
systems enable data centres to easily
migrate to 25, 100 and 200 Gb/s networks
and solve some of the most critical
network challenges.
A data centre is an ever-expanding,
interdependent, difficult-to-understand
infrastructure that, once installed, is there to
stay. Data centre managers must address
constant demand for new services and
booming data growth.
When planning the installation or upgrade
of network cabling, it is vital to remember
that while the cost of cabling typically only
accounts for 4–5% of the total expense
of the data centre, reports have shown
that 65% of system outages are related
to cabling, and patching mistakes cause
28% of downtime in data centres. They are
therefore making sound cabling investments
to significantly reduce the possibility of data
centre downtime.
Today, no one asks for a slower network and
while it is 25 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) that is
being deployed, all new implementations
are factoring in the need to include easy
100G and even 200G migration as a part
of their future. And for this, higher value
cabling systems such as fibre are the way
forward. Fibre systems facilitate the setup
of high-density cabling systems for data
networks with parallel-optical connection
technology. Consequently, data centres
can introduce 25 GbE or even 100 and 200
GbE as a bandwidth to connect the fastest
servers and switches to each other.
That being said, copper is still a good option
for horizontal links (10G) and with the new
Cat. 8, it will be able to provide 40G for 30
metres. So, it remains cheaper and sufficient
for small distances.
In terms of design, the traditional
hierarchical network topology with core,
aggregation and access level can no
longer cope with today’s needs, resulting
in congestion along traffic routes. To
ensure data and applications are available
in real time at all times, latencies have
to be considerably reduced, calling for
single-mode or multi-mode fibre and
new kinds of network architecture. A
spine-leaf architecture can be adapted to
continuously changing needs and reduces
latency. A network mesh with crisscrossing
cabling guarantees that switches at access
level are no longer more than a hop away
from each other.
Between ever increasing fibre densities,
complicated fanout connections and meshed
leaf-spine architectures, knowing the true
state of the network cabling at any time has
been extremely difficult. Changing network
topologies therefore also warrant the use
of Automated Infrastructure Management
(AIM) solutions. Using a single, current,
consistent database eliminates stranded
capacity and facilitates end-to-end analysis,
agile infrastructure management, predictive
analysis, capacity utilisation and efficiency
of operation and administration, and can
bring 30–50% reduction in downtime.
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