Data centers are highly complex operations with multiple inter-dependencies and opportunities for failure. Data center operators are evaluated on their uptime, with a tiered rating from 1 to 4. The most demanding Tier 4 requirements for large enterprises require 99.995% uptime per year, 2N+1 fully redundant infrastructure and less than 26.3 minutes of annual downtime. Yet customers expect the network to exceed these requirements and be available 99.999% of the time, which translates to all but 5 minutes per year. Factors that pose a threat to data center availability include lack of cooling or hot spots, prolonged improper utility power, exposure to high or low temperatures, humidity, and component failures. With all of this in mind, however, the most common cause of unplanned downtime in data centers is human error.
· According to Gartner Group, the single largest cause of data center downtime is human error, which can result from poor training, inadequate documentation that leads to mistakes in change management, and fragmented systems management.
· The Uptime Institute reported that overall, 88 percent of unplanned downtime events were caused by human or mechanical errors (Data Center Frontier - How to Calculate Data Center Downtime; BY VOICES OF THE INDUSTRY - OCTOBER 26, 2015)
A mistake on the part of a data center employee could lead to costly downtime
The economic impact of even a short downtime can be significant. The Ponemon Institute in 2013 studied unplanned downtime and calculated an average loss (U.S.) of $7900 for every minute of downtime (which includes recovery). Gartner analyst Andrew Lerner pegged network downtime at around $5,600 per minute in 2014. (Data Center Frontier - How to Calculate Data Center Downtime; BY VOICES OF THE INDUSTRY - OCTOBER 26, 2015)
If human error is a key source of downtime, then automation is the answer. While Software Defined Networking (SDN) has brought automation and control to many layers of the networking stack, implementing fiber cross connects in a multi-tenant data center is still done manually. The manual process involves multiple steps with opportunity for human error at each step. Even the simple step of plugging in the duplex cable can be done wrong, with the transmit and receive ports reversed.
To reduce the chances of human error while also improving the speed of service, Telescent designed a fully autonomous cross connect solution. The Telescent G4 NTM is an innovative automated fiber cross-connect system that allows software control of the physical layer while scaling to address the needs of large data center campuses. The system consists of 1,008 input and 1,008 output ports, each connected by a short, uninterrupted internal fiber cross-connect. The connections in the system are fully-latched and self-cleaned LC-UPC connectors, offering the low-loss and reliability expected of passive patch panels (i.e. no back-up power is required). When a reconfiguration is requested, a robot-driven gripper removes an internal fiber from the original port and moves it to the desired new port. The patented algorithm identifies the unique path to route the fiber around the 1,007 other internal fibers in the system to establish a non-blocking, any-to-any connection. The Telescent NTM is strictly non-blocking and completely automated – essentially unlimited configuration and reconfiguration is possible with the Telescent system without any manual intervention and with the original external fiber connections. A new cross-connect can be requested remotely at any time and from any configuration, ensuring complete flexibility and programmability.
The Telescent G4 NTM has also been designed and thoroughly tested to meet the reliability standards for use in mission-critical data center environments. The Telescent system has passed NEBS Level 3 certification for proven reliability. The system is manufactured in the United States by Flextronics, one of the largest contract manufacturers in the world. Finally, the Telescent NTM has passed multiple customer qualification tests with no failures during the hundreds of individual tests involved in the qualifications.
With human error being a leading cause of downtime for multi-tenant data centers, automation with the Telescent NTM can help data center operators meet the demanding expectations of their customer and avoid the significant economic impact caused by downtime.