What is Metro DCI?

The tremendous increase in the inter data center traffic and the unique demands posed by the operators have prompted the optical hardware vendors to rethink the problem from a data center operations model perspective. This requires small hardware footprint, very low power consumption, and simplicity of deployment and usage. The culmination of this exercise has resulted in the birth of the Metro DCI.

The key features of Metro DCI hardware platform are the following:

  • Hyper-density (400Gbps or more in a 1-RU chassis)

  • Flexible client interfaces (10/40/100 GE)

  • Low power consumption (< 1 Watt / Gbps)

  • Up to 80 km without any intermediate line amplifiers

  • Rapid bandwidth and low latency

  • Security integration (Layer-1 encryption)

  • Easy management (multiple API support)

  • Simple deployment

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Network (Line) Interfaces

Two interfaces each operating at 200G for a total of 400G

  • 2 x 200Gbps (16 QAM) coherent transmission

Client Interfaces

Services can be mixed and matched up to the line rate of the network interfaces

  • 4x 100G Ethernet (100GBASE-R4); QSFP28

  • 10x 40G Ethernet (40GBASE-R4); QSFP+

  • 40x 10G Ethernet (10GBASE-R)

Metro DCI Management

There are multiple ways to interact with the Metro DCI platform.

  • Web-based User Interface (Web UI) via encrypted Transport Layer Security (TLS) or HTTPS

  • Command Line Interface (CLI) via secure shell (SSH)

  • Authentication via Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System (TACACS+) or Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS)

  • Local and remote logging using Syslog

  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) v2c, v3

  • Open YANG model based APIs:

  • CLI, REST, NETCONF

Why should I consider the Metro DCI?

Traditionally, enterprise customers leased metro wavelength services from the telecom carriers or service providers to interconnect the data centers. However, enterprises have now started to reevaluate this strategy and are exploring the option of leasing dark fiber and building their own high capacity, fault-tolerant networks - a move that is expected to yield significant savings on the monthly recurring charges and reduce the overall telecom spend on the services used to interconnect the data centers.

A self-managed Metro DCI network strategy becomes compelling if an enterprise customer's bandwidth needs are increasing at a fast pace. For example, if the bandwidth is doubling every 24 - 36 months and the customer needs to provision extra bandwidth rapidly without having to wait weeks or months for the service provider to install the new circuit. The breakeven period for such an investment could be as little as one year or less and generate tremendous savings on a multi-year basis.

Metro DCI platform allows connectivity between multiple type of locations:

  1. Data Center to Data Center

  2. Enterprise location to Data Center

  3. Enterprise location to Enterprise location

The main advantage of the Metro DCI platform is the reduction in the price per bit with a leading transport capacity and density built into a 1RU platform.

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What is Metro DCI Turnkey Solution?

The turnkey solution involves three components:

  1. Metro dark fiber between the Customer’s facilities

  2. Optical Metro DCI hardware

  3. Network monitoring & management of the Metro DCI hardware and the metro dark fiber

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How can we help? We bring all these three pieces together in order to help the Customer make a decision. LNK GROUP is uniquely qualified to help design your optical Metro DCI network. Each network architecture and design project engagement include the following series of steps:

  • Identify the business applications driving the project - First we learn about your environment and determine how to leverage optical metro DC platform to meet your business goals

  • Current configuration - Document the details of the existing network configuration including bandwidth, equipment handoffs, terminating equipment, etc.

  • Identify the business applications driving the project - Understand the actual applications on the network and their latency and bandwidth requirements

  • Determine redundancy and failover requirements

  • Research metro dark fiber connectivity options - Generate a fully diverse, physical infrastructure solution connecting the customer's facilities. List the telecom carriers that can provide the dark fiber and meet the diversity requirements

  • Optical Metro DCI hardware - Present options that meet the requirements and the pros and cons of each solution. Compare and contrast the solutions of the Metro DCI hardware vendors

  • Network Management Options for the Metro DCI hardware - (Self-Managed versus Metro DCI hardware vendor managed solution)

  • Cost comparison - Calculate costs of each option and compare it to the traditional solutions to understand the ROIt