HTWAV
OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES, COMMUNICATIONS APPLICATIONS, AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS WORLDWIDE
Check/clean;and
^ 'calibrate' for best
U S test results. PAGE 15
TECHNOLOGY
Understanding component
specifications for plug-and
play cable assemblies
By DONALD K. HALL
As high-bandwidth applica-
tions—such as 10-Gigabit
Hthernet; 2-, 4-, and 10-
Gbit/sec Fibre Chan-
nel; and InfiniBand
4X-SDR and 4X-DDR—
have emerged, link-loss bud-
gets have been reduced. At
the same time, there has been
iin increase in the use of fac-
tory-terminated cable assem-
blies. Early drivers of this
latter trend included a move
to structured cabling and
the modularity benefits fac-
tory-terminated assemblies
offer: rapid installation, scal-
Carried away
With its AnyWave Optical Net-
vyork strategy, OpVista provides a
^raceful upgrade path* fortransi-
tioning to high-speed, high-capac-
ity Ethernet transport. PAGE 20
www.ltghtwaveonlii
I I
able growth, and ease of fiber
plant maintenance. However,
as system designers increas-
ingly find value in the
flexibility of network to-
pologies with a high degree
of connectivity, a secondary
driver has emerged: the abil-
ity to minimize connector-re-
lated insertion loss through
superior factory polish-
ing and assembly processes,
which helps network design-
ers meet the new smaller link-
loss budgets.
The principles of passive
plant design and installation
using factory page 15 •
Support
IVtmV^I APRIL 2007
packs a punch Carriers lean on
for campus comms. operations support
PAGE 27 SOS systems. PAGE 3 1
INDUSTRY
Fiber remains medium of choice
for data center applications
By MEGHAN FULLER Today's data center de-
Fiber cabling shipments signers are discovering that
are expected to experience traditional building LAN
a 26.3% compound annual equipment just isn't sufficient
growth rate to net $4 billion for use in the current data cen-
by 2010, according to new re- ter environment. Traditional
search from FTM Consulting LAN equipment simply will
{www.igigroup.com). In fact, not allow designers to achieve
FTM analysts forecast that the requisite density, scalabil-
fiber cabling shipments will ^ ity, manageability, and flexi-
exceed copper UTP cabling ^^ bility, says Alan Ugolini, data
shipments by 2008. And the ^ center specialist at Corning
highest growth application is ^ Cable Systems (www.corning
expected to be the data cen- c cablesystenis.com).
ter. Though fiber has always | Hutch Coburn, senior prod-
been a competitive option, 8 uct manager of enterprise fi-
new developments in optics Photo 1. Compared with ber infrastructure solutions at
and emerging applications traditional LC panels, the ADC (www.adc.com), agrees,
have further strengthened the MTP adapter panel enables noting that LAN traffic may
business case for fiber in the far greater density, support- not always be mission criti-
ing up to 432 fibers in a 1-U
data center. configuration. cal, but data page 31 •
APPLICATIONS
Survey details switcb to 0IVI3 in enterprise
By MATT BROWN ever-increasing file size and that same time frame. The re-
Predictions of exponential traffic volume, IT managers search, in which 1.484 IT pro-
growth in bandwidth demand are moving toward the higher fessionals from around the
were common in the late performance offered by world provided infor-
1990s. Now, with technology laser-optimized multi- mation on their require-
back on the rise, the commu- mode optical fiber (OM3). ments and strategies, not
nications industry is begin- According to research com- only details this evolution,
ning to see those predictions missioned by SYSTIM AX So- but reveals some of the fac-
realized. With the demand for lutions, OM3 products are tors shaping cabling technol-
individual user bandwidth in- expected to become the domi- ogy purchases in general.
creasing, the funneling effect nant fiber type over the next
of LAN switching is driving 5 years, representing 43% of Defining fiber
the need for more high-hand- new installs in that period categories
width fiber in the enterprise (see Figure 1). Conversely, To understand the appeal
backbone. use of OMl and 0M2 fiber of OM3 fiber, it is helpful to
To support bandwidth-in- is expected to be cut in half, have a basic understanding of
tensive, real-time applica- from 63% in current installs all three grades of multimode
tions and to accommodate to only 34% of new installs in fiber. OM 1 is a poge 27 •
Industry Opportunities, market intelligence,
and forecasts to improve your bottom line

OSS vendors grapple ALYST CORNER

with network evolution Dynamics of the Carrier

Ity Stephen Hardy
Ethernet switch market
By Seamtis Crehan
Changing carrier requirements, both in terms care, trouble ticketing, order entry, and billing,
of the types of services they want to provide potentially among other chores. The tools that Despite lofty industry expectations and a burgeoning Ether-
and how they want to deliver them, have re- help with customer care and billing are some- net services market, Ethernet switches have experienced rela-
invigorated the market prospects for optical times grouped into a subcategory called "busi- tively limited deployment in carrier networks during the first
communications hardware vendors. However, ness support systems," or BSS. half of this decade. To date, slightly more than 10% of total
these developments have created significant The aforementioned would be a long list of Ethernet switch revenues come from this source. However,
challenges for the back office systems and pro- tasks to manage in a stable environment. How- the Carrier Ethernet switch market couid well be undergoing
cesses service providers use to manage their ever, with the evolution away from SONET/ a transition from limited deployments of inexpensive band
networks and interactions with customers, SDH toward IP/MPLS or Ethernet or PBB/TE width to large-scale rollouts enabling carrier-grade services.
l'he software that composes the back office en- (or some combination), plus the addition of In the most recent quarter. Carrier Ethernet switcli rev-
vironment usually comprises a hodgepodge of video for telcos and voice for multiple systems enues traced a pattern similar lo that of the prior quarter,
tools from network equipment providers, out- operators (MSOs), the world the back office with continued modest sequential growth and strong year-
side vendors, and in-house staff. The rollout processes must control is anything but static. over-year growth. Quarterly revenues exceeded $550 mil-
of next-generation networks has given carri- The fact that network elements almost cer- lion as port shipments approached 3.5 million (see Figure
ers the opportunity to ponder a next-genera- tainly have come from a wide variety of ven- 1). These results put this market well on track to surpass $2
tion approach to their support processes—and dors, whose proprietary EMS and NMS tools billion in 2006, a 33% annual increase over 2005,
vendors of operations support systems (OSS) may not talk to each other or provide all of
stand ready to take advantage. the functions a carrier might require, only in- Factors driving growth
Broadly defined, OSS tools tackle a wide va- creases the burden. Several iactors are driving this strong market growth. First,
riety of tasks: element management and net- Thus, it's not surprising that carriers world- because Ethernet is less expensive and more scalable than
work management (often through EMS and wide spend more than $50 billion a year on other technologies (specifically the incumbent ATM, Frame
NMS software provided by network equip- OSS functions, according to l.arry Goldman, Relay, and SONET technologies), it has become the protocol
ment vendors), inventory control, service cofounder and senior analyst at market analy- of choice for carriers moving toward IP and packet-based
provision, fault monitoring, performance re- sis firm OSS Obsen'er (www.ossobserver.com). networks. Therefore, service providers arc increasingly de-
porting, workflow and integration, customer About $4 billion of this goes Cont. on pg 34 • ploying iilhernet switches in certain areas of the carrier net-
work-most notably In the access and aggregation areas—so
that they can offer high-bandwidth applications such as
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
IPTV, storage backup, and videoconferencing more eco-
nomically and effectively.
Fiber remains medium of choice for data center Second, more "carrier-class" Ethernet switches are avail-
able today. Vendors competing to capture the rising demand
centers face often stringent uptime re- on a line card, which, in turn, enables for Ethernet switches deployed in carrier networks are either
quirements. Even a few minutes of down- higher-density sy.stems. However, higher- addingcarrier-grade features U) existing product lines to make
time could be costly for enterprises in the density systems require more power, which them more compatible with carrier network requirements, or
financial sector. "Tomorrow's data center is results in greater heat dissipation. Tradi- building new product lines that target just this market. Mulli-
not your father's Oldsmobile," he asserts. tional LAN connectivity products often cre- protocol labfhwitchi ng (M PI.S) a nd Provider Backbone Trans-
ate a damming effect within the data center; port (PBT) are examples of features that make Carrier Ethernet
New requirements bulky cables overhead, underfloor, and inside switches more scalable, reliable, manageable, and compati-
Today's data centers are constantly growing; the cabinet prevent cool air from circulating ble with the existing carrier infrastructure (i.e., more "carrier
new equipment is added while old equipment where it is needed. class"). Tilt' Meini I'tliernet Torum (MEE)—an organization
is cycled out—on average every 2 to 3 years— The data center's requirements in terms of consisting of carriers, system vendors,
lo make way for higher-density, more feature- flexibility, scalability, density, and manage- Seamus Crehan coinpont-nt vendors, and test vendors
rich equipment. According to Ugolini, churn ability today are met, in part, by MTP (also is a semin dmxloi I hat works to accelerate the adoption
and scaling together represent "a killer com- called MPO or multifiber push-on) connec- at Dell'Ofo Group Inc. I. 't Ethernet networks and services in
bination for the data center." Traditional LAN tors, which enable designers to create a cabling (www.dellom.com). carrier networks—has devclopwd cer-
equipment cannot enable the frequent moves, infrastructure that meets the challenging den- when? he covers the titlcation procedures that help assure
adds, and changes required. sity requirements but is flexible enough to han- Csmrandemrpfise service providers that platforms meet
Moreover, the use of smaller-form-factor dle moves, adds, and changes. Bhemet switch equip- certain "carrier class" criteria.
optical transceivers, such as the SFP-i-, has For example, says Ugolini, consider a sys- Third, lelccnm Coni. on pg32 >•
enabled system vendors to get more optics tem box that may have Cont. on pg 33 •

LIGHTWAVE April 2007 31


CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31
Fiber remains medium of choice for data center applications
been deployed a year ago—say, a SAN
Switch Director. The density was likely
around 144 ports in a 14-U package.
Bul today's system vendors are sup-
plying the same box with 512 ports or
1.024 fibers. Densities have increased
in the same amount of space or with
only a minimal increase in space. Tra-
ditional optics components are not
fying the cabling infrastructure (see
Photo 2b).
MMF vs. S M F : The
debate continues
Both Ugolini and Coburn agree that
laser-optimized, 50-[im multimode
fiber {0M3) remains the medium of
choice for data center applications, in
singlemode, if they aren't already, is
tutu reproofing,
"The main driver for fiber, looking
at tbe data center, is storage," be notes.
"Ultimately, what people want to do is
extend that fiber. So if I bave a sin-
glemode infrastructure and I need to
connect to a disaster recovery site, I
can run that fiber from a switcb out
IndustrT
oltbe data center network. "And video
conferencing and bigh-definition TV
are becoming more and more preva-
lent among corporations that are try-
ing to minimize travel."
For tbis reason, be says, more and
more enterprises are turning to WDM
to transport multiple protocols at their
native speeds using as little fiber infra-
structure as possible.
"Fiber has certainly served its pur-
pose and will continue to serve its pur-
pose in tbe data center," be muses. "But
1 tbink most are already wired. Now,
we are seeing fiber extension out be-
tween sites."

Looking ahead
Both Corning Cable Systems and
ADC say tbey bave yet to see an all-
fiber data center; however, as speeds
continue to increase, the limitations
of copper make the economics of fi-
ber more attractive, even for short
distances. Historically, bigb data
rates have been used for long-dis-
tance applications, but higher data
Photos 2a and 2b. 1 he use OT Dulky LAN cables in a data rates are now migrating to tbe cam-
center environment subject to frequent moves, adds, and pus backbone, ibe building backbone,
changes can result in a "rat's nest" of fiber that blocks cool and into tbe data center. Moreover,
.iirfrom circulating (left). Congestion can been relieved by
using ribbon cables and MTP/MPO connectors, which can tbe industry has begun to mull the
reduce real estate consumption by as much as 50% (above). possibility of higb-data-rate trans-
mission from frame-to-frame, board-
sufficient in such case, he says (see part because it is less expensive when to another building, another site, an- to-board, and even chip-to-cbip. As
Photo 1). tbe higher-priced optics associated other facility," Gerrity explains. speeds increase, tecbnology chal-
Using traditional fiber optics, you with singlemode are factored in. More- Fiber in tbe data center is not new, lenges proliferate.
can get—at best—around 96 fibers in over, tbey say, high-data-rate SAN net- be says. What is new is running fiber As Ugolini notes, the IEF-E recently
a 1-U LC panel, Ugolini explains. De- works and Ethernet networks operate between data centers, facilities, corpo- "put its stake in the ground" and is
livering 1,024 fibers to tbe SAN switch in the 850-nm window, and laser-op- rate backbones, and even tbird-party moving forward witb a standard for
using an LC interface will consume timized, 50-|jm
valuable real estate inside tbe cabi- multimode fiber
net. But using MTP connectors in provides tbe best
that same I-U configuration, you can bandwidth per-
acbieve densities of 432 fibers, be says, formance ill thai
"getting you close to supplying enough window.
connectivity to bandle one of these Not everyone
new SAN switcbes at 512 ports." is sold on this
But what if the data center designer argument, how-
decides to bouse two SAN switcbes ever. lim Gerrity,
in the same cabinet—resulting in director of en
more than 2,000 fibers to tbe same terprise storage
location? (See Pboto 2a.) Again, the at ADVA Op-
quantity of fibers is simply unman- tical Network- Photo 3. The harness featured above includes an MTP coniiocto/ connected to a 12-tibei nbbon. en-
ageable. To alleviate the congestion, ing (www.adva abling data center designers to route a single harness through a cabinet versus 12 bulky fiber jumpers.
today'.'i data center designers are optical.com), re-
turning to ribbon cables, known as ports seeing a prevalence of single- disaster recovery vendors. Moreover, 100-Gigabit Etbernet transmission. At
barnesses, with MTP connectors on mode fiber deployments in data center enterprises are now starting to le- lOOG, tbe problems inberent in lOG
ihe end (see Pboto 3). They can route environments. You can get longer dis- verage that infrastructure to support copper transport will be a bundred
one 12 fiber ribbon cable tbrough the tances out of singlemode fiber, be says, other types of traffic along with their times greater, be says. "There are a
cabinet rather than 12jumper cables; and it features less dispersion over dis- storage traffic, says Gerrity. Iot of limitations that [copper] bas to
the ribbon cable is tben broken out tance tban its multimode counterpart. "You could have your storage traf- overcome tbat fiber doesn't. As speeds
into LC or SFP duplex connectors just But tbe key reason be believes most fic coming in, your Ethernet and voice. continue to increase, fiber technology
before the line card, thereby simpli- data centers should be fibered witb You could run IP tbrougb it," be says continues to evolve," be says. iSS*

www.lightwaveonline.com LIGHTWAVE April 2007 33