For such a large consumer and energy consumer as the data center, the hotly debated carbon neutrality is a problem that must be faced. In people's traditional concepts, servers, networks, refrigeration equipment, etc. are deeply related to energy saving and carbon neutrality, but few people will pay attention to the low-key infrastructure in the data center - integrated wiring system.
However, in the view of Wu Jian, technical director of CommScope North Asia, although the integrated wiring is not directly related to the energy industry, it is still inextricably linked to it, and it will also affect the energy utilization rate and the process of carbon neutrality.
Wu Jian, Technical Director of CommScope North Asia
So, what is the specific relationship between them, and how should network cabling develop in the context of carbon neutrality? On November 24, 2021, at the 9th Data Center Standards Summit with the theme of "Data Center Carbon Cable Future", Wu Jian elaborated on this. At the same time, he also gave us interviews on some hot issues.
Since its inception, data centers have been working to reduce PUE values. In the ratio of the total energy consumption of the data center to the energy consumption of IT equipment, the closer it is to 1, the smaller the value of PUE, and the more it means that most of the power is consumed by IT equipment such as servers, network equipment, and storage devices. In other words, energy is used efficiently.
Wu Jian said that the cost of electricity accounts for about 60%-70% of the cost of data center operation and maintenance expenditure, and the ideal state is that only IT equipment consumes electricity, and supporting equipment such as air conditioning and lighting consumes as little electricity as possible. Therefore, "improving the utilization rate of IT equipment and wiring systems and establishing efficient data centers are important means of saving energy consumption," Wu Jian stressed.
In addition, there is a problem of vacancy rate related to the utilization of IT equipment. Wu Jian said that the vacant computer room area and the vacant server are the driving force of equipment empty consumption, which is very unfavorable to energy saving. The reason for this problem is that the design concept of some data centers is not forward-looking, and the design and management level is low. Another problem that extends to the data center is that the life cycle of the data center is too short.
"Many domestic data centers will be renovated in three or five years, which means that all IT assets and infrastructure will be abandoned. In contrast, advanced data center cycles can be as long as twenty-five years," Wu said. Correspondingly, the life cycle of the wiring system will also change, resulting in all kinds of waste, not green nor environmentally friendly, thus affecting the realization of energy saving and carbon neutrality.
Another way to improve energy efficiency is to increase the data rate of network broadband and the physical density of connectors. From the perspective of the development of Ethernet, the industry generally believes that 400G will become inevitable and mainstream, and even the future 800G has been on the string. "Compared with the existing 100GB Ethernet, 400GB not only jumps in speed significantly, but also reduces energy consumption by 75% and saves 85% in system costs," Wu said. ”
But one of the main problems faced by 400G and 800G is the problem of commercialization and scale. Wu Jian believes that technology has existed for a long time, and commercialization still depends on energy consumption and cost. "The wiring system has long been prepared for 400G, 800G", high-performance and high-speed fiber and MPO and other high-density connectors such as Komp have, as long as the Ethernet itself is mature, integrated wiring can play an immediate role.
The OM5 standard for multimode fiber is what CommScopel recommends for new data centers that should be used in a key focus. At 4700MHz-km, the EMB of the OM4 fiber is specified only as 850 nm, while the OM5 EMB value is specified at 850 nm and 953 nm, providing longer distances and more fiber options. In addition, OM5 fiber is also better than the previous generation of OM4 in terms of speed and cost.
Multimode itself is more energy-efficient than singlemode, the short board is the transmission distance, and now CommScope's OM5 multimode fiber has made up for this disadvantage. "This makes the data center no need to rush to upgrade to single mode, which is also an energy-saving idea." Wu Jian said.
The management and operation and maintenance of the integrated wiring system are actually the embodiment of typical IoT applications. Jian Wu focused on the CommScope iVision intelligent cabling system, also known as Automated Infrastructure Management (AIM).
As a cabling intelligent management platform, it can help O&M personnel clearly understand the utilization of the entire IT asset, such as the ports in use, idle ports, how far the link distance is, how high the rate, and are managed, recorded and reported in the system in the form of data, so as to avoid duplication and waste, and make full use of the assets that can be utilized.
The CommScope imVision system also manages Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications, and by treating data cables as power cables, PoE enables power and communication to be combined into one, allowing for better monitoring and management of power consumption.
In addition, through the configuration of sensors, as well as intelligent monitoring and operation and maintenance, you can also view the operation of the cable in real time, "if someone maliciously plugs or suddenly pulls the wrong line, the system will alarm", which realizes predictable maintenance and provides convenience for timely fault handling.
At the end of the interview, Wu Jian said that CommScope is a solution provider, although it does not directly go to the user to do design, installation and operation and maintenance, but when designing the product, it takes into account the application of the entire life cycle. CommScope communicates with customers about how to design and plan upfront, installations work with authorized partners, and operations are more often achieved through CommScope's intelligent cabling systems.
Returning to the data center standards summit itself, the summit organizer CDCC China Data Center Working Group actually has two major directions, namely data center and integrated wiring. CommScope, on the other hand, is a start-up member of the Data Center Working Group for 12 years and a start-up member of the Cabling Working Group for 14 years, with a considerable industry status. And they will continue to work on green cabling and carbon neutrality, and continue to contribute to the development of data centers.