Copper contribution to global network Bashny.Net

When comes to talking about the cable component data center optical fiber course it has a number of significant advantages over the analogs, which make it very desirable for widespread use. At the same time, if we analyze the structural component of most existing data centers, copper wiring in them still dominates. Instead of having to completely give way to new materials, copper cables tightly woven into the data center infrastructure and the most serious estimates have very good prospects to continue to hold in the data center a key position. Later in the article we try to understand this, somewhat unique, situation, why the copper still is competitive enough?





"For many years, the progress of trying to kill the copper, but until now he did it came out not too good," - says Shain Walsh - senior vice president of corporate marketing and development company Emulex, which supplies network equipment under its own brand and those of recognized leaders like Cisco, EMC, HP, HDS, Huawei.

Copper is checked h4> «Last existing studies give us the statistics on which more than 20% of the connections between host ports 1 Gigabit / s are" copper. " Value for money standard cable categories CAT 6 at its use at short distances data for most data centers is more attractive than the optical fiber. Often, for compact networking equipment deployed in data centers, performance enough copper to maintain the speed of the connection at the appropriate level "- he continued Walsh.

After extensive study, the staff Dell`Oro Group came to the conclusion that in 2018 80% of high-speed connections (at least 10 Gigabit / s) in the data center will be implemented, in one form or another by copper cables.

According to the study, it can be as 10GBase-CR twinax cables directly connected to the DAC (digital analog converter) through standard SFP connectors, or it may be a 10GBase-T twisted pair CAT 6 or CAT 6a that can easily provide data at a speed of 10 Gigabit / s over a distance of 100 m, in addition, they are backward compatible with the cable provides the connection width of 1 Gigabit / s.


Already, network cards and cables support 10GBase-T is widely available in the market of IT equipment, and as a consequence of the highly competitive prices are very reasonable. According to the staff Dell`Oro Group technology has ripened in the next few years it will be increasingly involved in the operation of the data center. The company estimates that by 2017 the delivery of the equipment will increase by two than it is now, and the main reason here is still in the fact that two years is not going to go away where no existing channels of 1 Gbit / s.

UTP communication connection servers in racks h4> Although the principles of data centers and similar, yet each particular data center has unique content, and in such conditions it is impossible to develop a single, precise "road map" for their upgrade. In addition to one large data center can be different zones with different requirements for local network connections. It summed up the different sites of different bandwidth channels are also different and the demand for a valid network latency. Also, do not forget that here even play a role themselves form factor rack, which of course also not identical. This situation is more than a positive effect on the use of copper-the-art facilities, modernization and measurable. Practice shows that the maximum economic benefit is possible to achieve by combining technology based on optical-fiber and copper-based.

"We see copper as the main binder in the server racks to connect with up to 100 Gbit / s," - says Arlon Martin, an employee of Mellanox, - «If we consider the situation with the channels connecting this kind of reception, the data centers of large, successful companies, we are seeing clear trend in favor of the choice of optics. On the one hand optics has good potential for the modernization of all the equipment in the data center, on the other hand, these IT giants do not consider the use of copper in these areas - as a convenient way to save ».



Analyzing competitiveness of the two types of compounds, the conclusion is obvious, fiber optics is the technology of the future, without which it becomes not possible to implement modern high-technology projects: cloud services, telecommunications solutions and high-load, etc. "If we consider the market provided by the data center services it is not necessary to dwell on such giants as Amazon, Google, Facebook there are a huge number of organizations: banks, hospitals, museums, for which on the first place reliability and efficiency. It was on such consumers and keeps the copper, "- said Higbee Carey, head of network of department on work with experts in the company Siemon.

price as a factor h4> It is obvious that the price of the implemented solutions regains a key role in the final choice in favor of a particular technology. Price modernization of the existing data center acutely tied to equipment already used herein, also plays a role separation between network clients, power consumption, the volume of data transmitted. By the way, the maximum bandwidth for copper compounds is not in place, and now, according to the data transmission standards IEEE, makes it possible to support data transmission of eight-core cable at a speed of 40 Gigabit / s. But now the technology has not gained widespread use, as long as the price of its use will not be allowed to introduce this type of cable mass.



"I think that in a year and a half the situation with the availability of equipment (40GBase-T) does not change, according to my estimates should be at least 3 years before it becomes available for commercial use," - says Higby. "The technology, though promising, at the same time it has all the chances to fail. For now there is a ready solution for working with channels 40 Gigabit / s and it is of course optics! Invest heavily in retooling existing data centers a little perspective, to build new data center with an eight-wire connection is also now not profitable, because for a reasonable price this technology is not enough mass ».

At the same time on the market of equipment, there are many universal solutions 25-50 Gbit / s SFP + DAC installed in racks that allow the free multiple ports connecting to the rest of the optics with a channel width of 100-200 Gigabit / s, or else entirely to use them under the twisted pairs.

"Analyzing the activity in the technical component, can reasonably argue that most of the existing pillars with a channel width of 100 Gigabit / s is more than enough features 8-meter copper cable to connect all components of the rack" - says Arlon Martin.

"Flexibility and a number of manageability provide background to argue that copper still has a future. Just as difficult now to imagine a full-fledged data center is entirely based on the "optics" can not exist at all data center without it. In this regard, optics and copper is not so much competitors as complementary components of an efficient data center, "concluded Walsh Shine.





Source: geektimes.ru/company/ua-hosting/blog/253080/