Good Wednesday morning, and welcome to Data Center Digest.
We’re looking at data centers and the people, technologies, and trends that make them run.

Today’s Newsletter:

⛈️Dark Fiber and its discontents. The pros and cons of scalability and reliability.
🐘 New Ethernet consortium looks to take the technology to the next level.
Big Deals: QTS and Blackstone building data centers, CoreWeave puts $1.6B in Plano, Project Cobra set to strike in Kansas.
Resources: AI is still cool, Subsea cables are very cool! 

Est. read time: 3mins, 34 seconds

- News -

New consortium looks to reshape, refine ethernet

The Linux Foundation recently announced the creation of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC), a collective aimed at optimizing Ethernet-based architecture for the escalating demands of  (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC).

The consortium's founders include industry powerhouses like AMD, Arista, Broadcom, Cisco, Eviden, HPE, Intel, Meta, and Microsoft, bringing together expertise in networking, AI, cloud, and high-performance computing.

The UEC's primary focus will be to create a next-generation Ethernet-based communication architecture geared towards high-performance networking. Thus leveraging Ethernet's extensive use and flexibility to manage diverse workloads in a cost-effective, scalable manner while maintaining Ethernet interoperability.

Dr. J Metz, Chair of the UEC, emphasized the goal is not to reinvent Ethernet but to refine it for performance-driven workloads.

This move is seen as pivotal in the ongoing transformation of nearly all industries through AI/ML, necessitating a rearchitecture of networks for supercomputing scale and performance.
UEC will focus on developing specifications, APIs, and source code across multiple layers, aiming to deliver overall improvement for demanding workloads.

Read more about the new consortium HERE.

- What Else -

Dark fiber is a pricey option for security, scalability

Unlike standard fiber cables, where light pulses are transmitted to send information, dark fiber cables are devoid of light pulses, marking their status as 'unused'. They’re laid, but unused.

What’s the point?

These cables exist in large quantities as telecom companies often overinstall their network infrastructure to anticipate future growth in data and service demands.

Once installed, they can be sold to entities requiring high-speed, high-capacity data transmission, and control over a private optical network.
These buyers range from manufacturing and logistics companies to governmental institutions and other telecom firms.

What’s good?

• Latency: The dedicated infrastructure of dark fiber allows for direct and uninterrupted data transmission between specific points. As these networks sidestep traffic congestion and routing issues inherent in shared networks, they ensure faster data transfer.

• Security: Using a dark fiber network can also enhance security due to its private control and isolation from the public internet, reducing data interception or intrusion risks.

• Reliability: With organizations maintaining their dark fiber infrastructure according to their own standards, they experience fewer network outages or service interruptions. Moreover, bandwidth capabilities with dark fiber are virtually limitless, allowing bandwidth increases within a predictable cost framework.

What’s not so good?

• Availability: Dark fiber is often only accessible to the wholesale market, and in some cases, such as with AT&T and Comcast, not available at all. Thus, even if a company has a nearby fiber network, it doesn't guarantee they will lease dark fiber.
  As with all wireline technologies, the "last mile" to termination is always the trickiest to work out.

• Cost: The cost of implementing a dark fiber network is also significant. Customers must provide all network gear at each point-of-presence (POP), including Add-Drop Multiplexers (ADMs) and optical regenerators to boost light intensity and eliminate signal attenuation.
  The acquisition cost of this equipment, along with the personnel needed to configure, operate, maintain, and monitor the network, can add substantially to the overall expense.

Ultimately, the transition to dark fiber should be a carefully considered decision. If your organization's data load and network costs are steadily increasing, dark fiber could offer a solution with predictable costs, complete control, and low latency.

- Big Deals 🤝 -

- Hot links 🌭 -

Thanks a lot for reading.

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- Taylor