The Prospect of Inter-Data-Center Optical Networks
Venue
IEEE Communication Magazine, vol. 51 (2013), pp. 32-38
Publication Year
2013
Authors
Xiaoxue Zhao, Vijay Vusirikala, Bikash Koley, Valey Kamalov, Tad Hofmeister
BibTeX
Abstract
Mega data centers and their interconnection networks have drawn great attention in
recent years because of the rapid public adoption of cloud-based services. The
unprecedented amount of data that needs to be communicated between data centers
imposes new requirements and challenges to inter-data-center optical networks. In
this article, we discuss the traffic growth trends and capacity demands of Google’s
inter-data-center network, and how they drive the network architectures and
technologies to scale capacities and operational ease on existing fiber plants. We
extensively review recent research findings and emerging technologies, such as
digital coherent detection and the flexgrid dense wavelength-division multiplexed
channel plan, and propose practical implementations, such as C+L-band transmission,
packet and optical layer integration, and a software-defined networking enabled
network architecture for both capacity and operational scaling. In addition, we
point out a few critical areas that require more attention and research to improve
efficiency and flexibility of an inter-data-center optical network: optical
regeneration, data rate mismatch between Ethernet and optical transport, and
real-time optical performance monitoring.
