Early Tuesday, the companies introduced a 100-gigabit platform capable of digitally tying multiple data centers within 80 kilometers (about 50 miles). Previously, that breakneck 100G speed was possible only in cross-country networks.
Linking data centers to amass cloud size — and speed — will become more necessary as cloud users like Facebook (FB), Alibaba (BABA), Yahoo (YHOO) and others expand their online footprint, says Jeff Cox, Microsoft senior director of network architecture.
Microsoft realized as much in 2012, but the industry’s “long-haul solution” for cross-country information transit was too hefty for use in metropolitan areas, Cox says. It would be the travel equivalent of launching a Boeing 777 to go from John Wayne Airport near Anaheim, Calif., to Los Angeles International Airport 20 miles away.
“You’d take a cab, not a 777,” he told IBD. “For those distances across town, we want these large quantities, but that’s the wrong approach.”
Trains, Planes, Trucks … And Drones
In 2013, Microsoft and Inphi teamed up to solve the problem. Inphi moves data in the same way FedEx (FDX) transports packages — by trains, planes and trucks, Inphi CEO Ford Tamer told IBD. The Microsoft-Inphi solution is a 100G “drone.”
Inphi also has a 100G long-haul solution under its Coherent platform. But the Coherent platform is more power-consumptive, expensive and requires space to allow excess heat to dissipate, Cox says. He estimates the Coherent platform uses 20 times more power than the new Inphi-Microsoft platform.
“Using the Coherent technology would blow your entire power budget,” he said. “It’s fairly impractical at this scale.”
Enter Colorz.
Microsoft and Inphi’s partnership will be borne out in the Colorz platform — faster than the industry’s current 10G drones and less costly than 100G long-hauls, Tamer says. The 100G drones are capable of moving the digital equivalent of the Library of Congress multiple times in one second.
“We do not believe there is any other solution that can achieve what we’ve done in the power and cost envelope,” Tamer said. “For that type of power and that type of performance and that distance, we do believe it’s an industry first.”
Who Needs 640KB RAM?
Three years ago, Microsoft met brick walls as it sought to reach 100G inside city limits, Cox said. He referenced tech lore when, in 1981, company co-founder Bill Gates asked who would need more than 640 kilobytes, in defense of IBM‘s (IBM) newest PC, based on an Intel (INTC) processor.
“Almost kind of like 10 years ago, when people asked, ‘Who needs more than 640KB of RAM (computer memory, where 4GB is now standard)?’ ” Cox said. “Then it was, ‘Who needs more than 100G in a metro?’ I think it was hard for people to wrap their heads around it.”
Since then, he says, bandwidth needs have multiplied. Cloud providers are leasing or buying data center spaces across the world as their needs outgrow those of traditional consumers like IT and Internet providers.
Data center is the industry’s new buzzword, and chipmakers especially are making a hard run for a piece of this market. Over the past year, Intel, Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (AVGO), Nvidia(NVDA) and Integrated Device Technology (IDTI) have redoubled their data center efforts in a bid to gain share.
“I think now when we talk about Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook, everyone is building these infrastructures,” Cox said. “And the scale of these infrastructures is surprising everyone in the industry.”
He added: “There isn’t so much disbelief any longer. I think we’ve proven we weren’t kidding. In fact, I think we underestimated a little.”
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