Data centre migration — ask the right questions

The Australian data centre services market is growing at an astonishing speed, achieving a 12.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR); and it is expected to reach an AU$2.055 billion market value by the year 2021.

Heightened demand for cloud computing is one of the main drivers of growth in the market, and we are seeing an increasing number of enterprises jumping onto the cloud bandwagon. While this is great for businesses, data centre operators are grappling with increased bandwidth requirements — growing at 25 to 35% per year, a rate that is predicted to continue on into the foreseeable future. One very visible impact of this growth is the need to support increased bandwidth by migration to higher speeds.

For many enterprises in Australia, the data centre is the lifeblood of the business. Some use it to power their core business, whether in manufacturing or services, while for others the data centre itself is the business. Regardless of how an enterprise uses its data centres, it is almost certain that the speed at which data is accessible determines the organisation’s ability to compete and deliver services in the marketplace. Furthermore, customer demands are evolving, with customers today expecting services delivered almost instantly. This translates to a dire need to ensure bandwidth is sufficient to meet demands. Enterprise data centres in Australia that fail to do so will risk being overloaded — leading to increased latency and bottlenecks, which will ultimately impact the enterprise’s ability to conduct day-to-day operations.

Having said that, migrating to higher speeds is easier said than done. The discussion surrounding migration to higher line rates is both complex and rapidly evolving. It includes a wide range of decisions that have to be made, including fibre type, modulation and transmission schemes, connector configurations and even cost considerations. The first step towards getting migration right is to carefully consider all aspects and decide what is right for one’s organisation. Having said that, here are four of the most common questions we hear from our customers as they plan their migration.

1. 40 G or 25 G lanes?

Until recently, the accepted migration roadmap outlined a predicted jump from 10 G lanes to 40 G. Since the approval of the IEEE 802.3by standard, the industry has begun to shift towards 25 G lanes as the next milestone. This is due to several factors. For starters, migrating directly to 40 G optics is costly, while 25 G lanes enable data centres to maximise their existing 10 G infrastructure. Perhaps more important is that the 25G lane provides an easier migration to 50 G (2x25 G) and 100 G (4x25 G).

2. Pre-terminated vs field-terminated cables?

The ability to quickly turn up networking services has propelled pre-terminated cabling systems to a technology of choice in many data centre environments. By some estimates, the plug-and-play capability of pre-terminated cables translates to 90% time savings versus a field-terminated system.

In terms of network maintenance — particularly handling moves/adds/changes — pre-terminated systems are estimated to be 50% faster than field-terminated solutions. The value grows as the number of fibre connections within the network increases. Among pre-terminated solutions, MPO/MTP fibre is fast becoming the de facto system for both single and multimode connectivity due to its ease of use and speed, not to mention the high density.

3. Serial or parallel transmission?

As data rates have increased in response to more demanding applications, the market has gravitated to parallel optics. This trend is being supported by the consistent demand for MPO-based trunks, a data centre staple for more than a decade. Using laser-optimised multimode fibre (LOMMF), serial optics can cost-effectively support speeds of up to 10 G. But as the 10 G links make way for 25 G or 40 G, the only option with serial transmission would be to switch to costlier singlemode solutions.

Parallel optics, however, provide a more cost-effective solution for 40 G and 100 G Ethernet. The switch to parallel optics is also helping to drive the use of MPO connectors. However, the trend to parallel optics may soon reverse as more technologies — that make better use of individual fibres — are developed. A variety of new technologies such as PAM4 and WDM are expected to help lure more connections back to duplex in the future.

4. Singlemode, multimode or wideband multimode?

The cost of pluggable optics continues to limit the implementation of singlemode fibre (SMF) in data centres. Although new technologies and manufacturing efficiencies are helping to reduce the cost for SMF, the price drop is still not significant enough to justify the high cost of singlemode optics.

Multimode fibre (MMF) continues to offer a more attractive balance of performance, density and cost for enterprise data centres. However, MMF still faces challenges with distance — meaning that as data traffic grows and interconnectivity speed increases, the maximum distance for a communication link tends to decrease. But emerging higher quality components and engineered links can provide the link capacity to support the longer distances and new data centre topologies.

Lately, an improved option that may provide the optimal solution for fibre migration has emerged. Wideband multimode fibre (WBMMF), a new fibre type, has been approved under ANSI/TIA-492AAAE and is expected to be recommended by ANSI/TIA-942-B. WBMMF enhances the ability of short wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) technology to provide at least a four-fold increase in usable bandwidth while maintaining compatibility with OM3 and OM4 fibres and supporting all legacy multimode applications. By multiplexing four wavelengths spaced in the 850–950 nm region, one strand of WBMMF can increase data capacity by a factor of four.

Robust infrastructure

Ultimately, we can conclude that there are many migration paths to higher speeds and data centre capacity, but sadly no single magic bullet approach. No matter the approach one chooses, the end goal should be obtaining a robust infrastructure; agile enough to respond to unexpected circumstances and flexible enough to scale and integrate tomorrow’s game-changing technologies — a complete modular connectivity platform that keeps your network fast, future-ready and cost-efficient.

CommScope provides essential infrastructure that makes communication possible. The company’s solutions and services for wired and wireless networks enable high-bandwidth data, video and voice applications everywhere — at home, at work and on the go. Backed by numerous respected brands such as Andrew, SYSTIMAX and Uniprise, CommScope supports customers in more than 100 countries around the world through its focus on integrity, ethics, quality and technical innovation.

*Gavin Milton-White is the Vice President of Enterprise, leading sales across Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, Gavin is responsible for driving innovative solutions for use in business enterprise, telecommunications, cable television and residential broadband networks. Previously, Gavin held key sales and general management leadership roles with TE Connectivity, Huawei and Avaya. With over 20 years of experience in telecommunications and network infrastructure and a background including that of reseller, distributor and vendor, Gavin believes in delivering a success-driven culture and customer-focused environment by driving best business practices using coaching, common sense, flexibility and team empowerment.

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