Why Global ISPs Need Data Center Interconnection: DCI Use Cases & Benefits

Why Global ISPs Need Data Center Interconnection: DCI Use Cases & Benefits

The demand for bandwidth from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) all over the world is unprecedented because of the adoption of cloud, streaming media, online gaming and now AI workloads. With this in mind,global ISPs need to reimagine their distributed data centers to stay competitive. Data Center Interconnection has become the key technology that is enabling the creation of a high performance virtual fabric of all data centers. This article examines the importance of DCI for ISPs, typical applications, and the real-world advantages of today's DCI solutions.

Growing Demand for DCI Across Global ISPs

Multiple trends are driving the ISPs towards focusing on investments in DCI. First, low latency synchronization of content between metro, regional and edge data centers is required to serve cached content efficiently via a content delivery network. Second, subscriber growth in developing markets such as Southeast Asia, Latin America,and Africa requires scalable backhaul architectures that traditional router-based interconnects cannot reliably or cost-effectively support. Third, as the amount of machine-to-machine traffic continues to swell with the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, data streams will be constantly produced and need to be aggregated and analyzed across facilities. If not, ISPs can experience subscriber experiences, increasing operational expenses, and capacity bottlenecks. Data center interconnection eliminates these problems with its high-bandwidth,low-latency optical connections that are independent of router upgrades.

Common DCI Application Scenarios

DCI is implemented by global ISPs in a few real world use-cases. Metro interconnect is the most common use case when data centers are located within a 50 to 120km radius from each other, and are used for active-active workloads and real-time data replication. Regional backbone interconnection covers longer distances, typically 300km or more, where ISPs aggregate traffic from many aggregation points. Another emerging trend is to connect the smaller data centers on the edge to the central cloud-based data centers for data processing.

Meet Rising Cloud and AI Traffic Needs

Large AI models need to be trained on distributed data sets across computing clusters of nodes, which are typically positioned at different data centers,and with very high throughput and low jitter. In the same way, IaaS cloud service providers must also move virtual machines between physical locations without impacting customers' businesses. Data Center Interconnection serves these requirements by providing deterministic high capacity optical paths with no shared IP network congestion or packet loss. DCI supports 100G, 400G and 800G per wavelength, which means that AI training workloads finish faster, cloud tenants are unaffected in terms of performance, regardless of the physical data center where these workloads are deployed.

Cut Operational Costs with Stable DCI

Reduction in operational expenditure is one of the main drivers of the adoption of DCI. Traditional inter-data center networks rely on incumbent telecom leased lines, which incur monthly recurring charges that increase with bandwidth. When an ISP starts deploying dedicated DCI over dark fiber or wavelength services, they no longer have to worry about the variable operating costs, can have more predictable and lower-cost services. A dedicated DCI platform can save up to 50-70 percent power when compared with core routers delivering interconnection services. This helps to further reduce facilities-related costs because of reduced cooling requirements and smaller physical footprints.

Easier Network Management for ISPs

There should not be an army of specialized optical engineers to deal with managing distributed infrastructure. Today's Data Center Interconnection solutions emphasize the ease of use with a single management platform. The end-to-end picture of link performance, optical power level, optical signal-to-noise ratio and error statistics is available from a single pane of glass at all interconnected sites. This network management simplicity directly equates to reduced training costs and mean-time-to-resolution for network incidents for ISPs serving several regions at different technical levels.

Flexible DCI Deployment for All Regions

Global ISPs are in operation with different regulatory and infrastructure environment. There are areas with plenty of dark fiber, and others where foreign ownership of dark fiber is not permitted. This requires DCI solutions to be adaptable. Low up-front expenditure options, combined with a pay-as-you-grow scalability, lowers financial risk for ISPs in developing markets. Localization requirements are addressed by partial assembly or full knock-down options, where local partners can assemble or complete knock down DCI components under local manufacturing classification. The flexibility allows ISPs in Indonesia, Brazil, Eastern Europe and beyond to deploy Data Center Interconnection without any regulatory hurdles.

Trusted DCI Solutions from Sino-Telecom

Sino-Telecom offers proven Data Center Interconnection solutions, specially designed for global ISPs. Our DCI platforms support coherent transmission from 100G to 800G per wavelength, covering everything from short-range metro links to regional backbone spans. Designed with open architecture concepts, our solutions fit into the existing switch fabric and deliver the low power usage and small form factor required in data center applications. Deployed in over 30 countries, such as Canada, France, Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, Sino-Telecom has been trusted by emerging telecom operators, regional ISPs and cloud providers alike. We have 240 patents and 150+ software copyrights to show for a continuous effort of innovation in optical transmission, network visibility and data communication.

Summary

Would you like to redesign your data center interconnection network? Contact Sino-Telecom sales team, they can provide you with custom quote and full product datasheet, use case for other ISPs of your size and scale. Whether you need 100G metro DCI solutions, 400G regional backbone solutions, or transceivers ranging from GE to 800G, our engineering team is ready to assist with your implementation. You can contact Sino-Telecom via email or submit form on our website. 30+ countries around the world choose Sino-Telecom for DCI solutions.