Three cabling considerations for faster data centre deployment

If data is the world’s most valuable currency, then speed is the market force that makes or breaks data centre deployments.

The growth in data demand has increased the focus on speed and efficiency to market for data centre operators. In order to achieve a shorter turnaround time and go to market more quickly, data centres rely on a speed-driven supply chain — partners and providers who are able to support faster, yet scalable builds. In working with data centres to take on this challenge, infrastructure partners face immense pressure to deliver quickly while ensuring their clients’ facilities are enabled with high-speed and ultra-density capabilities, and remain fully optimised in the face of ever-increasing transmission speeds and capacity demand.

There are multiple key success factors when approaching data centre infrastructure design. For Syndeticom, a specialist in the design, engineering and installation of complete ICT infrastructure solutions, the choice of cabling infrastructure is the critical foundation for enabling rapid deployment, superior performance and great end-user experience.

Three key cabling considerations to enable future-ready connectivity are:

1. Rapid connections, fast

The operator’s ability to reduce the time to ‘go live’ within a new data centre cannot be emphasised enough. Selecting a high-density pre-terminated cabling system helps simplify installation and enable superior performance in the data centre, laying the foundation of connectivity from the fibre distribution rooms, fast.

Syndeticom began deploying Corning’s EDGE data centre solution to support the NSW GovDC program in 2012. GovDC is the first data centre and private cloud environment in Australia built specifically to meet the ICT needs of public bodies. The program mandates the consolidation of 130 New South Wales government agency data centres into two purpose-built certified facilities that meet recognised global standards of security, availability and efficiency.

A pre-terminated optical cabling system specifically designed for the data centre environment, Corning EDGE enabled faster deployment, flexibility in supporting migration paths, speed, network uptime and is the only high-performance product to support the government’s high-speed networking requirements. The solution allowed the installation team to meet GovDC’s requirements for an ultra-dense, scalable, flexible and reliable cabling infrastructure.

By deploying an all-optical pre-terminated solution, the Syndeticom team is able to install up to 35% faster than traditional cabling systems. GovDC’s network was capable of quickly servicing the needs of end users. Custom-engineered components enable simple integration into common SAN directors, while the pre-terminated components allow for reduced installation time and faster moves, adds and changes (MACs).

2.  Flexibility and scalability for tomorrow’s speeds

High-performance connectivity for customers’ needs today and into the future is key to success, and for Syndeticom, the choice of structured cabling solution is critical. As today’s data centres need to plan for the migration path to higher speeds early in the cabling infrastructure design and planning process, the installer team rely on a scalable platform to enable simple migration when needed.

For Syndeticom, Corning’s EDGE was a suite of end-to-end connectivity products that allowed native migration from current network transceivers and optics to be expanded into using 40, 100 and 200G network speeds and transceivers.

Syndeticom’s customers, ranging from large, complex organisations, including financial services firms, to state and federal government agencies, expect data centre infrastructure to have sufficient built-in redundancy. If one element fails, there will be another to take its place without affecting service. The infrastructure put in place today must be able to scale seamlessly as the needs evolve.

3. Reliable, seamless experience

Data centre operators need a reliable solution to provide an ultra-dense, scalable and flexible cabling infrastructure — from interconnection through to meet-me-room, distribution and cage or hall environments. The ability to deliver faster, simpler installation, higher density and more flexible migration paths for customers is crucial in delivering an uncompromised connectivity experience.

With timing pressures common to any project for data centres, the cabling infrastructure must enable maximum flexibility and improved lead times, and contribute to a reduction in the total cost of ownership (TCO).

As 5G and IoT applications begin to take shape, data centres are challenged to scale to meet growing need for higher-speed connections. The choice of pre-terminated optical cabling from the onset means a faster performing network to meet the requirements for today’s and future data rates.

Data centre operators and their partners who design their infrastructure to meet tomorrow’s capacity needs will deliver continuous, seamless communication and data processing, with low latency and disruption to the end user. Installing the right cabling infrastructure solution now will enable data centre operators to reap greater financial benefits from the outset, retain and attract more customers and offer the flexibility to meet every demand.

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