FEATURE FIBRE OPTIC NETWORKS
Breaking New Boundaries in Fibre To Boldy Go... By Joost Grillaert, Product Manager Fibre Products, Nexans Cabling Solutions
The transition to 40G is occurring much more rapidly than previously predicted, forcing network and data centre managers to make some crucial choices around cabling infrastructure. The past year has seen a surge of interest in getting networks ready for 40G, due to the ever increasing demand for bandwidth. Fibre is set to play a critical role in this migration and in future proofing networks, and a number of industry “firsts” means that network managers need to be ready.
40G and 100G are in demand to enable the parallel consumption of services such as HDTV, radio, video on demand and security over the network. Virtualisation of servers, cloud computing and more complex storage needs are placing greater demands on data centre managers, and the use of applications such as video conferencing and new channels of communication such as social media are rapidly changing the use of data by enterprises. Moore’s Law is being challenged and independent research shows that by 2017 demand for 40G is expected to exceed 10G as the standard rate of transmission between server and switch in the data centre, with 100G following soon after. Fibre’s capacity to transmit high
volume data at high speed over long distances has made it an obvious choice to meet increased bandwidth needs. In the last 20 years, the focus has been on using fibre in the backbone part of the network but as the use of data changes and its volume increases, the focus is shifting to bring fibre ever closer to the end-user.
Latest trends
These are interesting times. A number of ‘firsts’ have recently occurred that have had a significant impact on local and wide area networks, especially those supporting data centres. In June 2010, new standards for
Ethernet LAN and WAN were enacted. IEEE 802.3ba now standardises on 40G and 100G speeds, a sizeable increase from the previously accepted 10G benchmark. It is the first time two different Ethernet speeds have been specified in one standard, due to the desire to support 40G rates for local server applications, and 100G for data centre and internet backbones. In a major departure from prior
specifications, it is the first Ethernet requirement which needs multiple parallel fibres. Instead of one single fibre to transmit and one to receive, the new standards specify four fibres for each transmit or receive path. Another first is the inclusion of
Multiple Fibre Push On (MPO) connectors versus the traditional SC or
16 NETCOMMS europe Volume I, Issue 6 2011
The use of factory-produced pre-terminated cabling assemblies is also increasing in both popularity and availability and can provide a very convenient solution.
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LC single fibre connectors commonly used in 10G installations. These latest specifications come from a High Speed Study Group formed in 2006 by the IEEE to investigate new standards for high-speed Ethernet. The standards have recently been
supported by LAN infrastructure products that have dedicated 40G ports in the switch, which are being sold by well-known firms such as Force10 Networks and Extreme Networks. These developments, viewed
collectively, have had a profound impact on the industry and are hastening the move to 40G and beyond.
The popularity of fibre
The benefits of fibre are fast being realised and it is increasing its overall percentage of the market. This is particularly true in the rapidly growing data centre environment. Fibre has always been predominantly
used for fibre channel uplinks from the server to the SAN and Ethernet uplinks from switch to switch. These uplinks can often exceed 100m distances so this trend is expected to continue. Meanwhile, the switch-to- server connections tend to be short links – typically much less than 100m on average – and have therefore tended to remain copper.
However, as the increase in demand
for electronic storage escalates, the number of servers and storage devices is also multiplying at an unprecedented rate, despite the use of virtualisation technologies and consolidation methods. In addition, the popularity of high density blade servers is adding to the demand for more and more cabling which can be squeezed into less and less space. Fibre installation has been a critical
issue but fibre technology is rapidly moving forward in this area. With the advent of anaerobic and cold cure connectors, together with technology to minimise the amount of polishing required, the ability to terminate fibre in the field is improving. The use of factory-produced pre-terminated cabling assemblies is also increasing in both popularity and availability and can provide a very convenient solution. Assembled harnesses can be
produced off-site in more suitable conditions with connectors fitted at each end in a controlled environment. The result is reduced link loss budget compared with on-site termination, meaning cables can be used over longer distances or, if required, more connections can be fitted on links. The pre-terminated cables are fully tested before being released and a full report is provided. By handling the termination off-site, the on-site deployment time is
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