Networks Europe Sept-Oct 2016 | Page 21

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PRE-TERMINATED CABLING

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By the end of 2016 annual global IP traffic will pass the Zettabyte ( ZB ), and will reach 2.3ZB per year by 2020 . The number of internet connected devices will be more than 200 billion by 2020 * 1b , while IP traffic in Western Europe will reach 28 Exabytes per month by 2020 * 1 . The increase in the value of data to its users is intensifying pressure on data centres to reduce costly unplanned downtime , and better prepare migration strategies to higher bandwidth infrastructure to be able to cope with this exponential growth in demand .
One of the fundamental aspects for data centre owners and operators within this ever increasing volume of data , is how to improve uptime . The cost of unplanned outages has massively increased over the past few years , and the maximum cost per outage has more than doubled over six years from $ 1 million to $ 2.4 million * 2 ( see Bar Chart 1 ). It ’ s estimated that 91 % of data centres will experience unplanned downtime during their first two years of operation * 3 . With 59 % of this attributed to the physical layer * 4 , operators and owners can mitigate the risk of expensive outages by making the right infrastructure choices , such as high fibre port density .
Figure 1 * Ponemon Institute , January 2016
By Stephen Morris , Panduit EMEA
www . panduit . com
The impact of massive growth in data transmission required for Big Data and the Internet of Things is having on the enterprise and data centre is unquestionable
High fibre port density As today ’ s data centres evolve from cost centres to profit centres , IT managers must increase transaction rates in order to maximise use of active , revenue generating equipment . The demands of high performance and continual availability are leading to the proliferation of fibre optic cabling , whether the organisation is transitioning from 10G Ethernet to 40G / 50G / 100G Ethernet , or from 8G Fibre Channel to 16G / 32G / 64G Fibre Channel .
IT organisations face some unique challenges . Adding new real estate , if it ’ s even available , can be cost prohibitive . So many are faced with optimising existing space . A high-density fibre optic cable system can meet the need to optimise existing data centre space , enabling organisations to meet business demands for higher data rates while minimising the costs of space and equipment .
The need for higher port density is clear , however , it ' s simply not acceptable for higher density cabling solutions to come with a greater risk of downtime or become the bottleneck for bandwidth growth i . e . compared to lower a port density alternative . This is where all fibre cable management system are not the same , and evaluating finer nuances between systems before investing in the ‘ physical layer ’ is now more critical than ever before .
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