Or Why NEBS Certification is Important When Selecting Network Equipment
The fact that we can instantly exchange messages with a friend anywhere on the globe, access the latest stock price or stream our favorite video while waiting in line is simply incredible. But while we take this access for granted, it depends on a very complex interconnection of a large number of systems that makes the network work with greater than 5 nines reliability (>99.999% of the time).
Designing a system for high reliability requires that the individual components of the system be designed to even higher standards of reliability. If a component has a 1% chance of failure in a year but you have hundreds of these components in your network, the system is very likely to experience at least one failure during the year. The telecommunications industry has thought about component and system reliability for a very long time and has developed standards for ensuring reliability. The industry-standard certification is NEBS (Network Equipment-Building Systems) with three levels depending on the requirements.
The lowest level of NEBS certification, Level 1, is used for prototypes in laboratory trials while the highest level, Level 3, is typically required for equipment that will be deployed in a communications network. NEBS Level 3 means the equipment meets all of the requirements of GR-63-CORE and GR-1089-CORE. NEBS Level 3 has strict specifications for fire suppression, thermal margin testing, vibration resistance (earthquakes), airflow patterns, acoustic limits, failover and partial operational requirements (such as chassis fan failures), failure severity levels, RF emissions and tolerances, and testing/certification requirements.
The Telescent G4 Network Topology Manager (NTM) system is a dynamic fiber cross-connect (DFCC) and is one of the only DFCCs that has passed NEBS Level 3 certification. The NTM consists of 1,008 input and 1,008 output ports, each connected by a short, uninterrupted internal fiber cross-connect. When 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 on-site, manual labor, 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.
Part of achieving very high levels of reliability is not only planning for the expected but planning for the unexpected. So even if the data center is located in an area with very low earthquake risk, it is useful to know the Telescent system can withstand earthquakes. The photos above show the testing of the Telescent NTM on a shake table that simulated a magnitude 8.3 earthquake. The Telescent system performed well during this test, which included shaking along all three axis at the full magnitude. In fact, the Telescent system was even making connections during the test, with the robot moving fibers between ports without any problem even in the middle of a simulated magnitude 8.3 earthquake.
With so much today’s daily activities dependent on network access, it is important to choose components and systems with the highest level of reliability possible. And since the Telescent NTM has passed the NEBS Level 3 certification, even an 8.3 level earthquake won’t take down the system.