Data center network

• US 9,989,724 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2015
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiber Mountain, Inc. (Green Lambda Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fiber Mountain, Inc. (Green Lambda Corp.)
• Inventors: Raza, Mohammad H., Stone, David G., Lorenzo, Aristito, Plante, Ronald M, Lagana, John R., Ly, Phuc Minh
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Ted
• Application Number:
  US14/869,177
• Publication Number:
  US 20160091685A1
• Time in Patent Office: 980 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4452 Distribution frames
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/44526 Panels or rackmounts covering a whole width of the frame or rack
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/44528 Patch-cords; Connector arrangements in the system or in the box routing arrangements H04Q1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0005 Switch and router aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0066 Provisions for optical burst or packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0052 Interconnection of switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0083 Testing; Monitoring

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a data center network having one or more data center rows, where each row has one or more racks, and each rack has one or more network devices, such as servers, storage devices and switches. The rows and racks are interconnected by a fiber interconnect core that reduces the number of switching nodes in the data center network, and reduces the individual path latency, the overall data center network cost, power consumption, and power and cooling requirements.

Claims

1. A data center network, comprising:

one or more rows, wherein each row has one or more racks, and wherein each of the one or more racks has at least one network device and at least one top-of-rack network switch; and

at least one end-of-row fiber mesh interconnect in communication with each top-of-rack network switch within the same row of the one or more rows, such that each top-of-rack network switch has a direct connection to every other top-of-rack network switch within the same row;

wherein each top-of-rack network switch comprises;

a housing having one or more connection panels; and

a set of ports, wherein each port within the set of ports is configured to receive data streams from at least one network device within each of the one or more racks, and to transmit data streams to at least one network device within each of the one or more racks, wherein each port in the set of ports includes a connector and at least one transceiver optically coupled to the connector, and wherein the connector is mounted to the one or more connection panels for connecting to the at least one network device and the end-of-row fiber mesh interconnect; and

wherein the fiber mesh interconnect, comprises;

a housing having one or more connection panels, wherein each connection panel includes a plurality of connectors; and

a plurality of individual optical fibers within the housing and connected between one or more of the plurality of connectors to provide a direct optical fiber connection between connectors, the plurality of individual optical fibers being adhered to a thin film medium and arranged on the thin film medium in a predefined mapping.

2. The data center network according to claim 1, further comprising an orchestration system that controls the flow of data streams between each top-of-rack switch and each end-of-row fiber mesh interconnect.

3. The data center network according to claim 1, wherein the one or more rows are arranged in double wide racks configured as even and odd rack pairs, and wherein the top-of-rack network switch has at least 42 ports to provide connections to at least 42 network devices in each of the double wide racks.

4. The data center network according to claim 1, wherein the one or more rows are arranged in double wide racks configured as even and odd rack pairs, and wherein the top-of-rack network switch has at least 84 ports to provide connections to at least 84 network devices in each of the double wide racks, and at least 24 port connections to end of row switches in the data center and at least 4 port connections to every other data center network switch in each double wide rack in the data center row.

5. The data center network according to claim 1, wherein each port connector can be one of a CAT 6, CAT 6E, CAT 7, FC, SC, ST, LC, MPO, or MXC connector.

6. The data center network according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the network devices are equipped with a physical identification system.

7. The data center network according to claim 6, wherein the physical identification system comprises one of ninth wire technologies, RFID tagging, or connection point identification.

8. A data center network fiber mesh interconnect device, comprising:

a housing having one or more connection panels, wherein each connection panel includes a plurality of connectors; and

a plurality of individual optical fibers within the housing and connected between one or more of the plurality of connectors to provide a direct optical fiber connection between connectors, the plurality of individual optical fibers being adhered to a thin film medium and arranged on the thin film medium in a predefined mapping.

9. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 8 wherein the plurality of optical fibers are adhered to one or more thin films.

10. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of optical fibers can be routed on the thin film in defined connection patterns between the connectors in a single layer.

11. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of optical fibers can be routed on the thin film in defined connection patterns between the connectors overlapping previously adhered fibers creating a multi-layer fiber interconnection.

12. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 8, wherein one or more of the plurality of connectors comprise multi-fiber connectors and one or more single fiber connectors, and the predefined mapping between the connectors includes:

connecting an optical fiber from one position within a multi-fiber connector to a different position in a different multi-fiber connector;

connecting an optical fiber from one position within a multi-fiber connector to a different position within the same multi-fiber connector;

connecting an optical fiber from one position within a multi-fiber connector to a single fiber connector;

or

connecting an optical fiber from one single fiber connector to a different single fiber connector.

13. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 12, wherein the multi-fiber connectors comprise MPO or MXC connectors, and the single fiber connectors comprise FC, SC, ST and LC connectors.

14. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 8, wherein one or more of the plurality of connectors comprise multi-fiber connectors, and the predefined mapping between the multi-fiber connectors includes:

connecting an optical fiber from one position within a multi-fiber connector to a different position in a different multi-fiber connector;

or

connecting an optical fiber from one position within a multi-fiber connector to a different position within the same multi-fiber connector.

15. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 14, wherein the multi-fiber connectors comprise MPO or MXC connectors.

16. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 8, wherein one or more of the plurality of optical fibers extend through an opening within the housing such that the one or more of the plurality of optical fibers are external to the housing to provide direct connections to external devices.

17. The data center network fiber mesh interconnect device according to claim 16, wherein the external optical fibers are encased in a protective sheathing to protect the optical fibers from damage.

18. A data center network, comprising:

one or more rows, wherein each row has one or more racks, and wherein each of the one or more racks has at least one network device and at least one top-of-rack fiber mesh interconnect; and

at least one end-of-row fiber mesh aggregation in communication with each top-of-rack fiber mesh interconnect within the same row of the one or more rows, such that each top-of-rack fiber mesh interconnect has a direct connection to every other top-of-rack fiber mesh interconnect within the same row;

wherein each top-of-rack fiber mesh interconnect comprises;

a housing having one or more connection panels, wherein each connection panel includes a plurality of connectors; and

a plurality of individual optical fibers within the housing and connected between one or more of the plurality of connectors to provide a direct optical fiber connection between connectors, the plurality of individual optical fibers being adhered to a thin film medium and arranged on the thin film medium in a predefined mapping.

19. The data center network according to claim 18, wherein each end-of-row fiber mesh aggregation comprises:

a housing having one or more connection panels, wherein each connection panel includes a plurality of connectors; and

a plurality of optical fibers within the housing and connected between one or more of the plurality of connectors in a predefined mapping to provide a direct optical fiber connection between connectors.