This article is sponsored by Ciena.
Cloud computing directly affects the corporate bottom line and the environment. In fact, over the life of a typical data center - the foundation of cloud computing - energy consumption represents 40% of the total cost of ownership.
Ciena's new 8700 Packetwave Platform - winner of a 2015 Environmental Leader Top Product of the Year Award - is purpose-built for interconnecting cloud data centers that consumes 50% less energy than competing solutions, while offering double the bandwidth in a compact platform requiring half the space, the company says. The 8700 Packetwave results in massive monetary savings related to ongoing energy consumption, which is also good for the environment and the corporate image.
Service providers in the hyper-competitive telecom industry interconnect cloud data centers and are fighting for financial viability. The Ciena approach allows service providers to reduce their CO2 footprint by saving them millions to tens of millions of dollars, as 8700 Packetwave networks grow. Many green environmental initiatives fail because they cost corporations money to implement with no real savings incurred - an unacceptable proposition in hyper-competitive environments. 8700 targets massive ongoing savings with the coveted benefit of cutting energy consumption in half in the network where 8700 is installed, says Ciena.
The platform is a multi-terabit programmable Ethernet-over-DWDM packet switch. It addresses the growing need to efficiently aggregate and switch large quantities of packet traffic. The 8700 takes the best technologies from the data center, which includes power, space, and density savings using the latest chipsets integrated into a purpose-built platform. It also takes the best of the metro network, which includes 100Gbps coherent dense wavelength division multiplexing optics, packet management tools, and resiliency. Together, these two sets of technologies allow for an efficient platform that interconnect cloud data centers using the minimal amount of energy, space, complexity and cost, Ciena says. For the foreseeable future, the metro portion of the global network infrastructure is where network operators have the most to gain from network transformation initiatives. Ciena understands the need to address both today’s and tomorrow’s trends. The 8700 allows network operators to benefit from these transformation opportunities with a compact, high-density, energy-efficient, operable, and simplified converged metro packet-optical solution. Ciena has combined the best packet network innovations from the data center with the best of the metro network into a programmable Ethernet-over-DWDM switch, giving network operators the ability to significantly simplify metro network designs, the company says.
One Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards judge called the product a “great concept. It is clear that Ciena addresses the energy needs of a market that is going to get more important on a worldwide level, and thus the savings it brings will become more and more significant.”
