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TEST & MEASUREMENT
Testing
times for
the data
centre
By Amie Cox PhD, Global ICP
Sales Leader, Viavi Solutions
www.viavisolutions.com
What problems are enterprises
likely to face as they evolve
their data centres?
The technology titans: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook
and Microsoft are transforming the data centre. Content
is driving network traffic growth at breakneck pace – and
data centres are at the epicentre of this trend. According
to a recent study from Cisco, network traffic will grow to 15
zettabytes by 2020 with a CAGR of over 27%.
As new technologies and applications come online, traffic
volumes will only intensify and could even surpass these
estimates over the next two to three years. Along with this
data growth, data centre managers also face challenges
such as interoperability, complex multifibre infrastructure
and rising costs. Changes are afoot that require a new
mindset in the realm of test and measurement to ensure
24/7uptime.
For operators, the network is their product and they
conduct extensive tests – and more tests – almost every time
they introduce a new service. Internet Content Providers
(ICPs) have a different mindset. Their product is content
and the network is the vehicle to reach the user. Often ICPs
conduct limited tests prior to the launch of a new service –
they find it time consuming and a constraint on the pace of
their growth. Understanding the ICP mindset and its impact
on network infrastructure, along with their requirements, is
fundamental to the continued expansion of data centres.
Increasing automation
Usually, telecom operators have hundreds of engineers to
manage the network and most are hardware proficient.
They consider the lifespan of hardware and technology
to be around 10+ years. ICPs, on the other hand, have
much smaller operations teams and their forte is typically
routing and software. As such, they create open Application
Programming Interfaces (APIs) and software-based
automation to maximise workloads and networks.
What’s more, the phenomenal growth rate of ICP
infrastructure requires them to rip out and replace
technology every three to five years, so they view hardware
with a limited lifespan. ICPs often find that the standards
bodies move too slowly to meet the needs of their business
TS IT - Network Rack
Make IT fast ....Make IT simple ....Make IT adapta
....Make IT ea
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