High Density Optical Racks Ensure Global Consistency
Case Study
Background
This hyperscale cloud operator needed to continually invest in high capacity, high density optical switch/router equipment to stay ahead of customer demand for bandwidth. To reduce operational complexity, this global leader needed a standardised peering point build model that could be adopted across the world.
The challenge
The hyperscale cloud operator was unable to find a suitable rack in the market that would accommodate extremely high fibre count in a 600 x 600 footprint for lowest cost CoLocation fees, which also had the flexibility to accommodate likely future changes.
As with many of our clients, this customer liked some aspects of other vendors’ solutions but were unable to configure precisely what they needed from their product ranges. Â
Our approach
Following our proven Consult, Design, Make, Protect process enabled us to create the perfect solution for this customer without the high costs of bespoke development.Â
Our design engineers worked on a solution that created more space to accommodate the high fibre count, but in the required footprint of 600 x 600. It contained specific cable management features including extra wide cable entry at the top and special protection features that would manage the bend radius and protect the fibres. Â
Our solution
The final racks combine extended ‘Pandora’ type wardrobe style doors to accommodate deep equipment profile as well as the hedgehog of fibre optics and power cabling, large managed entry/exit apertures to allow for very high fibre count, and special innovations to cater for unknown future requirements.
Outcome
The new racks are now being deployed worldwide so that sites are built to a consistent specification everywhere, troubleshooting is simplified, errors reduced, and future upgrades will be much more straightforward to implement.
When operating at global scale, these benefits translate to significant operational efficiencies.