Huawei unveils next-generation DCI solution

Huawei has unveiled their next-generation Data Center Interconnect (DCI) transmission solution. The solution aims to build an ultra-broadband, simplified, and intelligent DCI network by leveraging 600G/wavelength, OXC all-optical switching, and Network Cloud Engine (NCE) technologies.

  • Wednesday, 6th March 2019 Posted 5 years ago in by Phil Alsop

Cloud computing and Big Data are driving a new round of ICT transformation, and data centers (DCs) are becoming new hotspots for investment. Due to space limitations, DCs are often widely distributed. Therefore, DCI is required to provide high-speed and non-blocking data transmission and switching, which forms a logical resource pool to provide consistent cloud services. DCI has contributed to record levels of traffic and posed unprecedented challenges to technological innovation. On one hand, due to an upsurge in traffic between DCs, bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. On the other hand, ultra-large data backup and fast traffic migration between cloud DCs require network meshing for DCI. Connections in more degrees increase both fiber connections and the complexity of the optical-layer configuration. Furthermore, the dynamic migration of cloud service virtual machines (VMs) constantly changes the DC load. Network traffic becomes dynamic and unpredictable, resulting in frequent service setup and teardown.

 

To address these challenges, Huawei's next-generation DCI transmission solution integrates three innovative technologies: 600G/wavelength, OXC all-optical switching, and NCE, leading DCI networks into an ultra-broadband, simplified, and intelligent AI era:

 

Ultra-broadband: 600G/wavelength and 48T/fiber ultra-high capacity. Based on the algorithm accumulation of Huawei-developed optical digital signal processor (oDSP) chips, Huawei combines channel-matched shaping (CMS) and optical-layer AI neuron technologies to build 600G commercial capabilities. Single-wavelength 600G will enable ultra-high-speed cloud interconnection, thus to activate the value of ultra-broadband connection.

 

Simplification: The OXC all-optical switching technology builds a simplified optical layer. The all-optical backplane supports 32-degree wavelength switching and high integration. With the application of One Direction One Unit (1D1U), one board integrates the functions of multiple boards, such as multiplexer/demultiplexer, OA, and optical supervisory boards. This greatly reduces the number of boards required and simplifies internal fiber connections.

 

Intelligence: The NCE uniformly manages network-wide resources and enables one-click service provisioning and automatic hitless bandwidth adjustment, making the network more flexible and intelligent to adapt to rapid changes in cloud services.