AI is driving massive growth in data center workloads, and IDC predicts that data generation will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.5% through 2027. Gartner estimates that the use of generative AI models will impact more than 90% of organizations. It pursues a hybrid cloud environment by 2027. This will place significant strain on data center interconnect (DCI) networks that transport data between distributed, hybrid, and cloud data center architectures. Traditionally, transporting data between geographically dispersed data centers required leasing high-capacity lines from service providers or investing in dedicated optical transport networks. However, DCI connectivity over dark fiber using consistent pluggable optics offers an innovative alternative that reduces both the cost and complexity of connecting data centers to support AI applications.
Financial burden of existing DCI solutions
Typically, service providers use fiber optic networks to provide DCI services to enterprises. These leased lines are often 10G links or multiple 10G links supporting traditional DCI applications such as disaster recovery and enterprise services. It is also used to support 100G links to cloud services for more demanding applications such as data center mirroring and high-speed data aggregation and connectivity. Adoption of more data-intensive applications is driving DCI capacity to expand to high-bandwidth 400G and 800G connections. Because DCI’s cost structure is typically based on bandwidth usage, this change places new financial burdens on businesses. Costs can add up quickly as more circuits are needed to support increased capacity demands.
Advantages of Leased Dark Fiber for DCI
Dark fiber leasing is an attractive option for businesses to mitigate the financial impact of DCI as their capacity requirements increase. Dark fiber is fiber optic cable that has been deployed but has not yet “lit up” with data transmission from the service provider. By leasing these fibers, businesses can build their own private networks and control their data traffic without the recurring costs associated with bandwidth usage in traditional carrier models.
Maryland is a good example of using dark fiber for DCI. The New York State Department of Information Technology operates a 3,300-mile network and achieved annual cost savings of more than $111 million by switching to dark fiber, with an ROI of 871%. Leasing dark fiber and building a private network offers benefits beyond cost savings. Dark fiber provides businesses with the scalability essential in the AI era. As data requirements grow, businesses can scale bandwidth without waiting for service providers to add capacity. Dark fiber also strengthens corporate security posture by providing complete control over the data passing through the network, reducing exposure to external threats.
IP and optical network integration for DCI
Traditional DCI architectures are built on a dedicated optical network layer that requires investments in optical transponders and line systems to transport data traffic over optical fiber. Cisco Routed Optical Networking helps enterprises reduce the cost and complexity of DCI. It is a proven, standardized solution used in hyperscale DCI environments and service provider networks. More than 300 customers worldwide have adopted routed optical networking to increase capacity while reducing energy consumption and costs.
Routed optical networking allows optical waves to be carried directly from high-capacity ports on routers or switches in the data center. Simplifies networks by replacing proprietary transponders with industry-standard, consistent pluggable optics, high-density routers, and simpler optical line systems. This leads to a cheaper network design. For point-to-point DCI solutions, enterprises can deploy consistent pluggable optics with Cisco Nexus switches to collapse the switching and optical layers at Layer 2. For networks supporting more complex services, routing and optical layers can be integrated into a single IP/multiprotocol. Label switching (IP/MPLS) network where all switching occurs at Layer 3.
Benefits of Routed Optical Networking for DCI
What does all this mean for corporate balance sheets? Fewer components means lower CapEx, smaller hardware footprint, and lower power and cooling costs. According to an analysis by ACG Research, routed optical networking can reduce the total cost of ownership of DCI applications by 48%, CapEx by 60%, and overall environmental costs (power, cooling, and floor space) by up to 83%. . But it doesn’t end there. Routed optical networking also contributes to:
- Simplify your network: The convergence of the IP layer and the optical layer simplifies planning, design, activation, management, troubleshooting, and resolution of network services.
- Automation and Assurance: A single end-to-end automation platform reduces errors, improves resiliency, simplifies repairs, and accelerates new service launches.
- Network Performance: Routed optical networking enables high-speed connections for demanding applications such as AI traffic or long-haul transport.
- Stable Transmission: The robust data transmission of consistent pluggable optics adapts to diverse network and fiber infrastructure conditions for improved transmission reliability.
DCI for AI-enabled data centers
Cisco has introduced a series of accelerated compute, network fabric, and hyperscale fabric solutions to address the data center needs of AI, from sophisticated model training to widespread inference usage. As the amount of data powering AI rapidly increases, the need for cost-effective, scalable solutions to interconnect data centers has never been greater. By leasing dark fiber and adopting routed optical networking, enterprises can ensure their mission-critical networks are ready to support the unprecedented demands of AI now and in the future.
Cisco routed optical networking for DCI applications.
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