Understanding the Essence of Data Center Cabling Architecture

The basic definition of a data center, currently accepted by all parties, is a functional building area, a building or a group of buildings with computer rooms and support areas. It is a service center and application environment for information flow transmission, storage, calculation, exchange, and provide a variety of information, and it is itself a T infrastructure that needs safe operation and intelligent management. The data center room is different from the data communication room of the telecom operator, the computer room of the enterprise, the intelligent building information room and other places.

From the classification of cabling systems in international standards, the data center integrated cabling system is a relatively independent cabling system, and the integrated cabling system is also the infrastructure of the data center. It should not only meet the normal operation of the network facilities in the computer room, but also support the needs of information transmission in places such as office area, network management center, call center, and mechanical and electrical equipment room. Therefore, for the data center cabling system that occupies a building or a group of buildings, the independence and integration of building cabling and machine room cabling should be taken into account in the overall planning and design, and there is an interworking relationship between the two sets of cabling systems. In the construction of data center integrated cabling system, we need to fully consider the following aspects of the characteristics.

The evolution of the data center network has a very clear direction, in order to reduce the network delay and improve the response speed of the data center network, the cloud computing data center network will more commonly adopt the two-layer network architecture of the core + access layer to replace the traditional three-layer mode of core + convergence + access. The core network uses 40G/100G network ports, and the access layer network and server use 10G ports. The increase of network bandwidth will put forward higher requirements for the cabling system, when the server uses 10G port form, the cabling of the cable class needs to use at least Cat.6A level cables, the specific application can refer to the IEEE802.3an standard 10G Base-T transmission protocol.

If 10G is routed using optical fibers, the multi-mode OM3 or higher optical fiber system is preferred to support the application of server ports. For details, see 10G Base-SR of the IEEE802.3ae standard. For the 40G/100G application of the data center backbone, the MTP/MPO optical fiber parallel multichannel multiplexing transmission mode 40G Base-SR4 and 100G Base-SR10 specified in IEEE802.3ba can be used, and the cabling system will need to be supported by the MTP/MPO pre-connection system.

A data center actually includes two cabling systems: building integrated cabling system and machine room integrated cabling system.

The building cabling is constructed according to the structure of the cabling subsystem, trunk subsystem and building group subsystem, and the cabling of the machine room is composed of the equipment cabling area, the horizontal cabling area, the middle cabling area and the trunk cabling area. An interworking route is established between the two cabling systems. In addition, the whole data center can be based on the needs of the property management network to establish a weak current system standing use of the cabling system.

Cloud-based data centers generally adopt the application technology of network virtualization. Data centers can use more virtual machines and increase the workload of each server to carry more data traffic. At present, the application range of 200G and 400G optical transceivers is constantly expanding, and the application field of 400G QSFP-DD optical transceivers will be further expanded. With the rapid development of the digital wave, manufacturers have been committed to improving the compatibility, stability and reliability of 400G QSFP-DD, which is expected to become the mainstream product in data center applications in the next few years.

Low-cost and low-power direct connection cables (DAC) and active optical cables (AOC) based on optical transceiver designs are also seeing significant growth in short-range high-speed interconnections. The optical transceiver market is moving towards higher speeds, lower power consumption and smaller form factors or dimensions. In the future development, 400G optical transceivers are expected to become the leading technology in the field of optical communication, and 200G optical transceivers will continue to play an important role. Therefore, there are still significant opportunities in the optical transceiver market.

In summary, the journey through the intricacies of data center cabling underscores the need for adaptability, scalability, and foresight. As the digital era unfolds, innovations in optical transceivers, virtualization technologies, and cabling infrastructures will play pivotal roles in shaping the future of data centers. The challenges posed by evolving network architectures and the ever-growing appetite for higher speeds present opportunities for industry players to contribute to the next phase of data center evolution.

OPTICO's MTP/MPO high-density cabling solution is the ideal choice for the next generation of 100G/200G/400G/800G data centers. MTP/MPO trunk cables, MTP/MPO conversion cables, and MTP/MPO to LC fan-out cables are all factory terminated and completely tested, offering plug-and-play compatibility with OPTICO MTP/MPO fiber cassettes. The precision-manufactured US Conec MTP/OPTICO MPO connectors in the fiber optic cables ensure outstanding reliability and ultra-low insertion loss of 0.25dB.

Our solution not only simplifies cable management but also achieve a structured cabling system in data centers through high-density fiber patch panels and enclosuress. We also provide support for custom solutions and OEM services for greater flexibility and scalability to meet your various cabling requirements.