Artificial intelligence accelerates industrial innovation and upgrading. How should network infrastructure respond?

In today's digital economy era, digital transformation has become a consensus among enterprises. With the implementation of technologies such as AI, big data, and cloud computing, building high-quality intelligent computing centers has become a key factor in promoting enterprise transformation. As the infrastructure of data centers, data center network technology is also constantly evolving and developing. With the popularization of 400G networks, fiber optic connections have basically occupied a dominant position in data centers .

AI accelerates enterprise transformation, and intelligent data center cabling upgrade is imperative

The increase in resource-intensive applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) , and big data is driving the demand for higher capacity and lower latency networks . At the switch level, faster and higher capacity application-specific integrated circuits ( ASICs ) make this possible. 400G has been rapidly popularized in intelligent computing centers, and 800G and 1.6T have also become the development direction of future networks.

According to a Dell'Oro report in June 2022, 400G, 800G and 1.6T will be the development trend of Ethernet. This means that Ethernet connections of 100G and below are rapidly iterating to 400G, 800G and 1.6T . Chen Lan, general manager and vice president of CommScope Enterprise Networks Greater China, said, how is the design and architecture of an artificial intelligence data center different from that of a traditional data center? What kind of solutions does it need to support it? In order to improve operational efficiency, what solutions do we need to adopt to reduce costs? These are some of the problems and challenges that the era of intelligent computing brings to our data centers. To this end, Propel came into being, which will help customers build data centers faster and better.

Chen Lan, General Manager and Vice President of CommScope Enterprise Networks Greater China

It is understood that CommScope has always focused on the next-generation fiber optic platform, enabling data centers to upgrade to higher speeds, ultra-low-loss optical performance, faster deployment, and more flexible design options more efficiently and easily.

Wu Jian, technical director of CommScope Enterprise Networks Greater China, said that AI requires a lot of computing power and fast connections . Since computing power and network connectivity are synergistic and interactive, this has led to the rapid improvement of the network. The rapid iteration from 400G to 800G involves chips, lasers, transceivers, etc., as well as optical fiber connections . For this reason, the quality of optical fiber will become a key factor.

Wu Jian, Technical Director of CommScope Enterprise Networks Greater China

Wu Jian emphasized that as the number of GPUs used in data centers increases, we need to further increase the connection rate to meet computing power requirements .

Launches Propel platform to accelerate network modernization with end-to-end solutions

Based on current and future data center needs and development trends, CommScope has launched a new end-to-end high-speed modular fiber optic platform Propel solution, which helps data centers and enterprise users accelerate network modernization construction based on key standards such as application-based building modules, design flexibility and deployment speed .

According to Wu Jian, the Propel solution has three core technical advantages:

1. MPO16: MPO16 is based on multi-core parallel technology and provides two solutions: 8-core and 16-core. Wu Jian said that a simple way to increase the speed is to use parallel transmission . With the emergence of 400G and faster network technologies , the demand for MPO16 is gradually increasing. MPO16 means that there are 16 optical fibers in one connector, realizing the function of 8 transmit and 8 receive, which makes it easy to achieve the iteration of 400G, 800G, 1.6T and other rates.
2. OM5: Based on multimode broadband technology, it allows one optical fiber to accommodate multiple wavelengths, realizing the parallel operation of multiple lanes (multiple wavelengths).
3. VSFF (or "micro-duplex"): It allows the size of connecting devices to be reduced to meet future high-density requirements
4. The APC end face and polished surface of the optical fiber connector are mainly used to reduce the return loss.

It is understood that Propel modules are available in four different interchangeable sizes, and the matching cable structure can easily expand applications through system architecture. All components are ultra-low loss to achieve excellent performance and come with a dedicated QR code that can be used for performance tracking and online guidance.

Wu Jian emphasized that Propel can provide a converged platform to adapt to different needs. Although customer needs may gradually increase from 100G to 400G or even 800G, Propel can still meet their various needs and has strong convergence.

" CommScope has been serving many data center customers. We have listened to the voices of many data center customers, including the need for maintenance convenience and diverse support. Therefore, the establishment of the Propel platform is future-oriented and also a response to current customer needs. " Wu Jian said that on the Propel platform, CommScope provides more integrated cabling solutions, taking all technical factors into consideration. This is not only for existing technologies, but also includes support for future technologies.

Focusing on the Chinese market, enabling the development of green, environmentally friendly and intelligent data centers

As a large energy consumer, the carbon emission of data centers has also become a focus of users. Chen Lan said that building green data centers and achieving carbon neutrality and carbon peak are crucial for data center users. CommScope focuses on the actual needs of the Chinese market and has built a large sales team and technical support team in China . It has fully utilized the advantages of the technical support team to help data center customers plan and design a data center that can be used sustainably for ten or even fifteen to twenty years in the early stage, while helping data center customers reduce energy consumption and protect their initial investment.

Wu Jian said that compared with foreign countries, due to the high frequency of iterations, the design life and resource life of data centers in China are relatively short, and they may need to be replaced in just three to five years. CommScope hopes that the data center itself needs to have a certain degree of foresight , and can build more high-quality data centers with a relatively long design life cycle from the perspective of design, sustainability, design life and structural thinking as technology iterates. He emphasized that China's development direction will pay more attention to the development of green and intelligent data centers. Therefore, CommScope hopes that the considerations for new data centers will be longer-term, including energy saving, high-speed network connections and other aspects.

At the end of the interview, when talking about CommScope's strategic priorities and plans for 2024 , Wu Jian said that our strategic focus will be on the development of fiber optic technology. In terms of copper cables, CommScope will continue to maintain its leading position, abide by its commitments to customers and ensure timely delivery. At the same time, we will also actively promote 6A standard solutions.

" In terms of fiber optic technology, as the needs of data center customers continue to grow, data centers must adopt solutions that meet the needs of the present and the future. In particular, with the development of IDCs in recent years and the increasingly high leasing requirements of IDC tenants, IDC and other service providers have also realized that their tenants need higher-end equipment and solutions. Therefore, whether it is a data center built by an enterprise or a data center built by an IDC supplier, their technical requirements are constantly increasing. This trend has given us huge opportunities, and we are also actively preparing to participate in the bidding for some projects. " Wu Jian said.