Fibre-Optic Cross-Connection System for Redundant Data Center Topologies
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fiber optic connection systems in data centers require doubling the number of electro-optical transceivers for redundancy, leading to increased costs and energy consumption, especially in high-risk failure environments.
Innovation Solution
A pluggable fiber optic cross-connection system that internally mixes and crosses the channels of multi-channel transceivers, allowing for inherent redundancy by dividing and recombining channels, reducing the number of transceivers needed to maintain comparable redundancy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the number of electro-optical transceivers is doubled to create redundancy, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple transceiver channels into shared fiber-optic paths through a cross-connection fabric. Instead of dedicating separate redundant transceivers to each channel, multiple channels share common physical paths, allowing a single transceiver failure to affect only a portion of the system rather than complete failure. This merging approach achieves reliability with fewer components.
Solution Approach 2:
The cross-connection fabric provides universal connectivity where any input channel can be dynamically connected to any output channel. This multi-functional switching infrastructure allows the same physical transceivers to serve multiple logical functions and pathways, eliminating the need for dedicated redundant transceivers for each specific connection.
2Reliability
If the number of electro-optical transceivers is doubled to create redundancy, then system reliability is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple transceiver channels into shared fiber-optic paths, the system reduces the total number of active transceivers required. Fewer transceivers mean lower aggregate power consumption while maintaining reliability through the shared redundant infrastructure provided by the cross-connection fabric.
Solution Approach 2:
The cross-connection fabric automatically routes traffic through available paths when failures occur, providing self-healing capability without requiring manual intervention or additional active backup transceivers. This self-service mechanism maintains reliability while keeping energy consumption low by utilizing existing infrastructure rather than activating additional power-hungry components.
3Reliability
If the number of electro-optical transceivers is doubled to create redundancy, then system reliability is improved, but monetary cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple transceiver channels into shared fiber-optic paths through a cross-connection fabric, reducing the total number of transceivers required from doubled redundancy to a single set with shared paths. This directly reduces hardware procurement costs while maintaining reliability through the shared infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The universal cross-connection fabric allows a single set of transceivers to serve multiple connection requirements through dynamic routing. This multi-functionality eliminates the need to purchase dedicated backup transceivers for each connection, significantly reducing monetary cost while maintaining system reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a fibre-optic cross-connection system, in particular with spine-and-leaf topology, comprising an input side (S1, S2), in particular a spine side, with one or more (n) input switches (S1, S2). Each input switch (S1, S2) comprises a plurality of fibre-optic multi-channel transceivers (QSFP S1.1-S1.4; QSFP S2.1-S2.4), each of which has a number of k fibre-optic channels (Tx0-Tx3). The fibre-optic cross-connection system also comprises an output side (L1-L4), in particular a leaf side, with a plurality (m) of output switches (L1, L2, L3, L4), which each have a plurality of fibre-optic multi-channel transceivers (QSFP L1.1-L1.2; QSFP L2.1-L2.2; QSFP L3.1-L3.2; QSFP L4.1-L4.2). The fibre-optic channels (Tx0-Tx3) of at least one, in particular each, input-side multi-channel transceiver (QSFP S1.1-S1.4; QSFP S2.1-S2.4) are divided and connected to different output-side multi-channel transceivers (QSFP L1.1-L1.2; QSFP L2.1-L2.2; QSFP L3.1-L3.2; QSFP L4.1-L4.2), in particular belonging to different output switches (L1, L2, L3, L4).