FEATURE COMPONENTS
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Facebook invited a team from Intel’s server
group to take an inside look at Facebook’s first built-from-scratch data centre in Oregon
volumes that they initially projected, or something changed in the market. But in either case, the end result is that the component vendor is stuck in a difficult position.’ Another way that Internet firms wield their
Telecom-focused vendors are slowly becoming an endangered species
power to satisfy their technical needs is in trying to influence product formats. Inniss highlights Google’s attempt to ‘push for a 100 Gb/s solution in a hurry’ in 2010, by proposing a multi-source agreement (MSA) based on 10 x 10 Gb/s channels. ‘Finisar said 4 x 25 Gb/s is the way to go, even though it’s hard and expensive,’ he recalled. ‘Tey were right. Te market is already looking to 400 Gb/s, which they definitely need 25 Gb/s channels to get to. All the fighting was lost time.’ Five years later, Inniss added, only one vendor has made money out of the format: Santur, now owned by Neophotonics. So by trying to support Internet content providers in the short term, components vendors stand at risk of sacrificing long-term business. Such efforts reflect the fact that networking
systems still don’t optimally support the shorter 500m-2km distance range preferred by companies like Google. ‘Te IEEE standard goes to 10km, and that solution is too expensive,’ said Inniss. ‘Te 10 x 10 MSA really
22 FIBRE SYSTEMS Issue 7 • Spring 2015
is not suitable either.’ In 2014, four new MSAs emerged to better cover the shorter distance range (see Fibre Systems Autumn 2014, page 28). Which MSA to get involved with is an important strategic decision for component vendors. ‘Te situation is still a bit unstable, so some decide that they have to play along with them all,’ Inniss explained. ‘Others pick and choose and go for what they think is going to be the big volume.’ Although Internet firms are starting to
participate in IEEE standards development work, their control over what happens in their vast data centres means they don’t need to. ‘Tese companies can drive a unique solution given that they are spending such a large amount,’ Inniss emphasised. ‘For example, Microsoſt is known to favour singlemode-type solutions within the data centre and they’ve been vocal about that for quite some time. Tat’s not necessarily the position everyone else is taking.’
Opening a six-pack Another reason that approaches are not yet wholly standard is increasing data rates, added Inniss. ‘As data rate changes, then the infrastructure within the data centre may have to change. For example, as you go faster, the
Walden Kirsch, Intel
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