Abstract

Building cost-efficient cloud data centers means putting more and more servers on the same sites, and this stresses the ability to build cost-efficient fiber plants and networks to connect them. With lifespan of a server being 3 years while fiber can be good for 10 years or more, designs must be future proof. Given the scale of the networks, reducing fiber density, optimizing installation time, and automating validation of the built plant is key. This talk will describe the challenges Microsoft has faced in building cloud scale data centers and how improvements in optical technology can unlock the next steps. Article not available.

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