Data centers are hungry for power, and their appetite is only growing. The demand for data storage and online services has fueled a steady rise in data center power consumption.
In the technology world, 2023 was dominated by headlines about machine learning (ML) programs such as ChatGPT and Dall-E. Large language models (LLMs) and generative AI fascinated people with the ability to generate text following almost any prompt and an image created by the generative AI program Midjourney even won an art contest.
Automation can address the “most labor-intensive and error-prone step” during re-striping
If you are reading this blog, it is likely that you are already acquainted with the concept of Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).
A recent NANOG blog post delved into the critical need for the automation of optical fiber transport networks [1]. The article underscored the imperative for automation to drive down network costs, enhance network resilience and reduce the number of outages – all of which significantly improves customer satisfaction. However, the author candidly noted that “Network automation is moving slower than we thought it should, and slower than we need it to move.”
The ‘cloudification’ of information technology has produced benefits in seemingly every aspect of business. The cloud has created a virtualized compute oversubscription model by automating functions at the higher layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack.
Mark Zuckerberg said it loud and clear, “2023 is the year of efficiency.” For Meta and other tech companies, that means doing more with less. Automation is one way to drive efficiency, taking repeatable tasks and implementing a solution that allows people to be more efficient and consistent at what they do.
While the above Too Long : Didn’t Read summary is said somewhat tongue-in-cheek knowing that there is a lot of complexity in the replacement of optical for electrical switches, the recent paper from Google discussed their use of an optical circuit switch (OCS) in their data center networking and the tremendous value the received due to this replacement.
A huge variety of our daily activities are affected by machine learning algorithms. Machine learning is used in everything from Siri's speech recognition to your choice of movie based on a Netflix recommendation to which ad shows up in your timeline when you open Facebook.
Happy International Data Center Day! Today, we celebrate the vital role that data centers play in our increasingly digital world.
High Performance Computing (HPC) and Machine Learning (ML) rely on collective communication – concurrently aggregating and distributing data collected from processes running on clusters of interconnected compute nodes.
This episode features a conversation with executives from MOX and Telescent as they provide an overview of their respective organizations and reveal how MOX deploys the Telescent Network Topology Manager to remotely automate their customer’s fiber connectivity between data center locations.
While many airlines were impacted by the winter storms that swept the nation during Christmas, most of them were back to running at full capacity a day after the storm passed.
The desire for a low-cost optical switch has been around for decades. As seen with long-haul networks in the late 1990s, the value of all-optical networks enabled by optical switches is greatest where the transmission bandwidth demand is greatest.
While advances in wireless and 5G technology get a lot of coverage in news stories about telecommunications, nothing has replaced fiber for its ability to transmit incredible amounts of data. And while wireless technology is what makes mobile connectivity mobile, it still depends on extensive fiber infrastructure for all the backhaul and core network connectivity.
Conversation with Telescent CEO Anthony Kewitch & Quantum Loophole CEO Josh Snowhorn announcing a game-changing agreement.
This signed milestone agreement sets into motion Telescent’s next phase of growth. Set to be deployed across multiple operation centers at the Quantum Maryland data center campus, Telescent’s automated interconnect system will manage interconnections across the campus and between Frederick and many locations across data center alley in Northern Virginia.
Data centers consume a lot of power. A single data center can consume as much power as a city and it is estimated that data centers account for ~2% of the total US energy consumption.
In a recent white paper on Open, Automated and Programmable Transport Networks, the authors at Heavy Reading stated: “software-defined networking (SDN) was never really about a specific protocol (e.g., OpenFlow). Rather, it was about a specific goal to build flexible, automated, and programmable networks that deliver new services to market faster and reduce overall network costs.”
As reported in a recent Foundations newsletter “Equinix recently notified customers that prices would be increasing for both Cross Connects and Smart Hands, specifically citing the global macro environment including rising energy, construction, and labor costs.”
The benefits of automating fiber interconnects in data centers are obvious. Automation can reduce operational expenses, eliminate human error, speed up service offerings, and improve efficiency.
Multi-tenant data centers (MTDCs) are the hubs where businesses and service providers connect, forming the network of connections that allows information to flow to users across the internet.
Fiber optics is the plumbing of data centers. While the computation, storage, and switching equipment are the focus in data center design, all this equipment is connected by many thousands of fiber optic cables.
Long ago when I was a graduate student, I had to machine water cooling channels into several dozen copper plates.
No one likes to talk about failures. But since networks are critical infrastructure not just to businesses but to everyone today, engineers and network operators must prepare for and prevent a wide range of potential failures.
There is a lot of focus on the Edge, but “the Edge” can mean a lot of different things. For the purpose of this article, I will refer to the Edge as data center locations bringing compute and storage to within a 5 msec latency of the customer.
Most multi-tenant data centers are built in phases, either with multiple data rooms within a single building or with multiple buildings on campus.
There is a well-known saying from a successful venture capitalist that “software is eating the world.” [1] In the article from 2011 written by Marc Andreessen, he made the point that young start-up companies based on software were able to compete against established companies and disrupt whole industries. I