Tag Archive for ISO/IEC

| March 25, 2017
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Limes in Your Data Center

Limes in Your Data CenterTimes are changing in the data center. For decades data centers were wired with orange multi-mode fiber optic cable. MMF is the choice for the data center connections because it is smaller and faster than copper and cheaper and more forgiving than single-mode fiber optic cables typically used for long-haul transmissions. The orange flavor of MMF was pulled into data centers to deploy Gigabit Ethernet.

multi-mode fiber optic cableThis type of MMF would work with links up to 600 meters. MMF uses the 850 nm and 1300 nm wavelength to transmit data. The typical MMF is 62.5/125 µm which means it has a core size of 62.5 micrometers (µm) and a cladding diameter of 125 µm, OM1 (“OM” stands for optical multi-mode). The second generation of MMF is 50/125 µm (OM2). These cables used LED transmitters. Newer installations often used laser-optimized 50/125 µm multi-mode fiber (OM3). MMF that meets this designation has enough bandwidth to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) up to 300 meters.

10 GigE is a great technology, but many organizations have outgrown it. New variants of Ethernet can reach speeds of 25 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and soon, up to 800 GigE is needed to keep up with the new requirements of enterprise and cloud data centers.

cloud data centersThe industry determined that a new type of fiber was needed to physically pass the bits back and forth at these new speeds and yet maintain backward compatibility with older installations. In October 2016, the international cabling standards development body International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) decided that the new standard would be called OM5.

Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine reports that the new OM5 standard was developed to meet the increasing bandwidth demands but keep up compatibility with older MMF installations, “The standard specifies 50/125-micron laser-optimized fiber that is optimized for enhanced performance for single-wavelength or multi-wavelength transmission systems with wavelengths in the vicinity of 850nm to 950nm.”

OM5 fiber is 50 micron core, laser optimized multimode fiber (LOMF)Sr. Fiber Product Manager at Legrand Randy Harris, explained that OM5 fiber is a new type of 50-micron core, laser-optimized multimode fiber (LOMF) designed to provide better performance for applications using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). It operates over a wider window in the range of 850nm to 953nm to support at least four wavelengths. Swiss-based cabling provider R&M says OM5 fiber-optic cabling supports duplex transmission by sending four wavelengths over a single multimode fiber to create future bandwidths up to 200 Gbps.

Cindy Montstream explained in an article published in Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine in September 2016,

The 40 GE SWDM4 and 100 GE SWDM4 specifications support transmission over duplex OM3, OM4, and OM5 multimode fiber types. Maximum reaches vary from 75 to 440 meters depending on data rate and fiber type. The group added that in the future, SWDM technology could be leveraged to enable 200-, 400-, and 800-Gbit/sec Ethernet traffic on multimode fiber cabling as well.

In June 2016, a Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) TR-42 subcommittee approved the new standard, which specifies wideband multimode fiber. In February 2017, the TIA TR-42.12 Optical Fibers and Cables subcommittee approved lime green as the OM5 jacket color. At that time it also approved a project to develop Addendum 2 to the TIA-598-D standard.

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The evolution of Ethernet is driving changes in the data center. The IEEE has developed a couple of new standards for Ethernet, which I wrote about here. The new standards include IEEE 802.3by, which covers 25 Gb/s switch interconnects for data centers.

In well-done cable installations cables can be distinguished by jacket color:

  • Orange jackets indicate legacy 62.5/125 µm (OM1) and 50/125 µm (OM2) fiber-optic cabling
  • Aqua jackets show 50/125 µm “laser-optimized” OM3 and OM4 fiber fiber-optic cabling
  • Lime-green jackets  50/125 µm “laser-optimized” OM5 fiber-optic cabling
  • Yellow jackets indicate single-mode fiber-optic cabling

It took decades to install all the orange old-school MMF, it is going to take several more decades to get it all uninstalled.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| June 25, 2013
Comments Off on Box Beefs Up Backbone for Business

Box Beefs Up Backbone for Business

The evolution of Box from an idea to let its customers share and manage and access their content from anywhere to a cloud file-sharing and storage start-up to a business serving over 150,000 businesses, including 92 percent of the Fortune 500 continues. DataCenter Knowledge reports that half of Box’s activity comes from outside of the U.S. and 40% comes from mobile devices.

In order to support the growth, DCK says Box is touting Accelerator, its global data transfer network, as well as adding several key certifications in a bid to make its global enterprise customer base happy. Further infrastructure expansion lies ahead. “We really think we’re solving a problem for an end-user,” said Jeff Quesser, VP of Technical Operations for Box. “But we’re also solving an IT concern; they can get all the auditing, compliance they need. This can be run in a very safe way.”

With over 150 percent growth last year the company has had to tailor its service in the best ways possible to serve the enterprise crowd.  The blog says 50 percent of Box activity is happening outside of the US, either from international firms or U.S. enterprises with a global presence. Mr. Queisser told DCK. “Speed is absolutely critical. If you have sites all around the world, you need blazing fast download speeds.”

This enterprise customer need was the impetus behind Box Accelerator. The company has established upload endpoints in key global data center hubs featuring end-to-end encryption. The company has built patent-pending intelligent routing and optimization technology that delivers uploads 2.5 times faster on average. It has built a network that helps you get data into Box as fast as possible.

Box Global Data Transfer Network

Box Accelerator tweaks the TCP stack to get better performance. Mr. Queisser explained to DCK.

“(With) most consumer operating systems, networking stacks are not optimized … There’s the bandwidth delay problem. TCP is an amazing protocol, but wasn’t made for these types of distances and this kind of bandwidth. It’s a testament to how amazing the protocol is that it’s done what it’s done.”

The article says the biggest problem for Box is how to handle inbound traffic.

“What we’ve done is unique in that it’s optimizing inbound data … How do you ingest 100MB rather than send it out? The other piece is that we built these nodes, and a routing feedback loop technology.  It determines the fastest way to get to Box. Sometimes it’s an accelerator node, but there are times when direct is the fastest path.”

Accelerator started off small but has added nine new points of infrastructure. It’s a small footprint that provides a big performance boost. The goal is to have cloud-based endpoints in all regions. The article claims that Neustar conducted a performance analysis test and found that “Box had the lowest average upload time across all locations, about 66% faster than the closest competitor.”

The company is also planning to apply this technology to file downloads. Accelerator has added speed to enterprise uploads, but the company told DCK it is looking to speed up downloads in a similar fashion. “We need to do that in a way where it’s encrypted and it isn’t cached,” said Mr. Quiesser.

ISO 27001It in terms of certifications, Box has recently added ISO 27001 and support for HIPAA. ISO 27001 is the international standard for information security management systems (ISMS) and demonstrates how the policies and controls put in place at Box protect user data.

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Better performance and security are great things from a cloud vendor. But what impact does the NSA spying scandal is going to do on the cloud storage business model. There could be repercussions if vendors don’t cooperate.

What do you think? is the Box network ready for the enterprise?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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