Techsplainers

It was a well-known fact that fires emitted an “invisible” heat, but it wasn’t until 1800, when famous astronomer William Herschel began to experiment that he discovered that there was something beyond what our eyes could see.

In our Techsplainer Light Series we explore light in more detail. In this post, we look at the Speed of Light, and how that translates to the world of fiber optics.

For data center and telecommunication networks, interconnection is the physical linking of one network to another to mutually exchange traffic. Back in the early internet days of the mid-90s, interconnection was between networks and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Today, interconnection is the ecosystem that powers digital business, extending the capability of networks by providing virtual or physical connectivity to customers, providers, suppliers, or other business locations, to just about wherever you require.

Modular connectivity, we talk about it all the time – but what is it?

Hyperscale – it’s in our name but what does it mean? Read our e-book to find out: How much of the world’s total internet traffic

A loopback is commonplace amongst the equipment used when testing data center networks but what is it and how does it work?

Efficient fiber management has become a critical consideration with respect to data center architecture given the widespread adoption of fiber optic connectivity across hyperscale, co-location and telecommunication markets. Proper implementation of fiber management presents numerous benefits to data center operators with cost reduction being one of the more significant and sought-after.

Put simply, a Meet-Me Room (MMR), otherwise known as ENI (External Network Interface) or MDA (Main Distribution Area), is a relatively small but very important space inside a data center where internet service providers, telecommunications carriers, cable companies, etc. converge to interconnect or cross-connect with one another and exchange data before distribution of services to other areas of the building.

Single Mode (SM) and Multimode (MM) are the names given to two competing designs of optical fiber based on how many paths of light are transmitted along the fiber core – single mode, meaning “one path”, or multimode, meaning “more than one path.” A mode can be described as a “path” or “ray” of light in the core of the optical fiber.

Due to the global emergence of “cloud” providers, connectivity has become more of a pain point within data center architecture in recent years; not only for the cloud provider’s own infrastructure but also that of colocation data centers.

A fiber optic patch panel is commonly described as the interface panel that connects multiple optical fiber cables and optical equipment. Patch panels are rack-mountable onto 19”, 21”and 23” rack systems, and some are designed to be wall-mountable.

Today’s business requirements are changing daily, and the infrastructure that supports those businesses needs to be equally dynamic. That means providing highly scalable connectivity infrastructure to enable the rapid integration and migration to next generation, higher speed, active equipment in your IT deployment.

This is a short and easy to read explanation of the CPR and how it applies to fiber optic cables and copper balanced cables. The Construction Product Regulation (CPR) (EU No.305/2011) provides regulatory rules by using a harmonized standard (EN 50575:2014/ A1:2016) for the “reaction to fire” of cables permanently incorporated into buildings and construction works.

In today’s datacenters, bandwidth demands are continually on the increase and to accommodate these bandwidth demands the speeds of the networks in the datacenter are also increasing.

Since the dawn of time, or at least since fiber optic cables were first produced in 1975, they have always been bundled in multiples of twelve fibers / tubes. Cable fiber counts were commonly 12, 24, 48, 96, 144, and recently all the way up to 6,912 (576 individual 12-fiber units).