Meeting future standards

How do you invest wisely today, to ensure your infrastructure supports several consecutive generations of active equipment?

When designing or modifying data centres or in-building networks, there are several new developments to take into account. These are, for example, the result of new ways of working. As more people work from home, in public spaces, or in transit, they expect the same type and quality of connections they have in the office. As they increasingly bring their own devices to work, they expect the same hassle-free connectivity they have at home. All this requires more bandwidth and increased flexibility.

Today, we’re also seeing the introduction of various new standards in the Data Centre environment and more are expected for the near future. These new standards foreshadow a number of significant changes to Data Centre design, functionality and management. In just a few years, 10G will be the most frequently used Ethernet protocol. 10GBASE-T is on the rise, the 400 Gb/s Ethernet Study Group are making progress, and there’s the ISO/IEC 11801-99-x Guidance for balanced cabling in support of 40 Gb/s data transmission and higher. The EN 50600 series of data centre classification standards represent another vital development. There’s also the ISO/IEC14763-2 standard, which specifies requirements for planning, installing and operating cabling and related infrastructures. All this means that any new network will need to take into account a wide range of future requirements.

Capex vs Opex

When planning new data centres of modifying existing ones, the emphasis is often placed on the upfront investment, which can be more easily calculated and verified. However, it can also lead to cutting corners. Cabling is one element that often suffers as a result - even though it is one of the most crucial contributors to overall network performance. What’s more, cabling should support several consecutive generations of active equipment and shouldn’t need to be replaced each time a new generation of active equipment comes along. That means reliability, quality, ease of use and bandwidth need to be as high as possible.

Cutting cabling costs doesn’t make sense. Between 40 and 50% of all breakdowns today can be traced to low quality connectivity, and the resulting poor performance of physical networks. In data centre projects, cabling infrastructure accounts for just 2 to 4% of the total investment, on average, largely attributable to labour costs. If moves, adds and changes and additions or alterations to the network can’t be can’t be carried out in user-friendly, efficient ways, the costs might run up significantly.‘

Complete breakdown

Substandard cabling might lead to the complete breakdown of a link, but can also significantly reduce network performance by causing high packet loss. Data packets consist of fixed-size frames, as well as actual data (payload), which comes in a variety of sizes. To maximise the performance of a network, the payload size must be maximised and the overhead minimised. However, bit errors may result in a loss of packets, which then have to be retransmitted. Links with a high bit-error rate are, therefore, often set to small packet sizes in order to minimise the impact of lost packets. But as a higher number of small packets need to be switched and latency time is increased, an additional burden is placed on the network equipment. When using Fibre Channel, we’re not just looking at packet loss, but at frame damage, too.

Poor quality of components or work can lead to higher insertion and return loss, as well as increased modal and reflection noise. With higher-quality solutions, BER is kept to a minimum. That means lower packet loss rates (PLR) for your network. Fewer data packets need to be resent and you obtain valuable bandwidth for your network. Retransmission means delays, which can mean costly competitive disadvantages in many customer segments and applications. These include trading business at banks, running simulations at research data centres or ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) applications in a cloud (e.g.Citrix or SAP).

Smart steps

So how can you best prepare for new developments and make sure investments in DC infrastructure are future-proof? There are a number of items for DC operators and designers to take into account. Network connectivity needs to be evaluated as a key component of your physical infrastructure. That means understanding where you are, where you want to go and what it will take to get there. Compliance with industry standards needs to be closely examined and you must determine whether the network is capable of supporting current needs and future business initiatives.

When it comes to fibre selection, choosing OM4 fibre is generally considered a good move. These multimode fibres are created with optimised gradient index profiles and provide the highest bandwidth-distance-product. This allows transmission of data at a higher speed over a given distance, or at the same speed over a longer distance. Thus, it decreases dispersion and BER (bit error rate). Consolidating LC trunk cables with MTP trunks is a practical, cost-effective option for saving space under raised floors and will also provide you with a solid foundation for a 40G or 100G rollout. Although 24-fibre MTPs might seem like an attractive proposition, the upcoming 100G standard will be realised with 4x25G and therefore 12-fibre MTPs suffice.

In short: greater data throughput and smaller latency also results in higher availability and significantly better overall network performance. Ensuring your network lives up to a high standard, making it future proof and allowing it to support multiple generations of active equipment, could simply require no more than investing 1% extra on the total budget.