Data center interconnect is a key use case and driver of spending in networking today. Indeed, global interconnect bandwidth is poised to exceed 8,200T by 2021, according to the Equinix (News - Alert) Global Interconnection Index.
To address this opportunity, vendors have introduced compact, modular systems that are purpose-built to allow for massive scalability. These solutions can also help network operators reduce their cooling, power, and real estate costs.
“These systems offer modularity and pay-as-you-grow scalability for lower traffic scenarios, so enterprises can cost-effectively scale connectivity for cloud services and applications,” says Kent Jordan, at advisor to Ciena, which Cignal AI has named the market share leader in this product category.
Initially DCI deployments were heavily concentrated in metro areas. But recently there’s been a shift to long-haul and trans-oceanic installations. Coherent interfaces are helping network operators support such high-capacity DCI use cases.
Meanwhile, network operators have begun to leverage L-band to double their fiber capacity. This is particularly useful in subsea network deployments.
There are also several other DCI trends at play right now. For example, many network operators are now looking for solutions that can work in multivendor environments and allow for ease of integration. And they want that from their DCI solutions providers too. For example, open APIs in such platforms as Ciena’s Blue Planet Manage, Control and Plan allow carriers to select the software modules of their choice.
Speaking of Blue Planet, on-demand connectivity with service orchestration is another important trend in the DCI world. And the Blue Planet Multi-Domain Service Orchestration solution enables customers to customize and adjust bandwidth on their links to cloud service providers.
Edited by Maurice Nagle