END USER INSIGHT
IT ALWAYS SEEMED THAT
THE DATA CENTRE WAS SOLELY
THE BUSINESS
OF CLOUD HYPERSCALE PROVIDERS . I THINK THE PANDEMIC
CHANGED THAT . unlocking new services with unimaginable bandwidth and latency . The question of ‘ if ’ they would expand is pretty much nonexistent . All that counts right now is ‘ how much ’ they are going to expand .
What difference do you see in the data centre market now compared to before the pandemic ?
It always seemed that the data centre was solely the business of cloud hyperscale providers . I think the pandemic changed that . We now see the emergence of social media companies in the data centre space . With the massive compute requirements , Meta , TikTok and Twitter are building wholesale multi-tenant data centres . Over time , you ’ ll also see large enterprises such as e-commerce giants ( barring Amazon that is also a hyperscale cloud provider ) and FinTech companies among others jumping on the bandwagon .
What this is also doing is expanding the market size in regions such as south-east Asia , the Middle East , South America and Sub-Saharan Africa . These markets will continue to grow as more and more players join the data centre space .
What role does optical fibre play in data centre connectivity ?
The hyperscale data centres of today require reliable , high-bandwidth components to power their network ’ s physical infrastructure . Optical fibre is perhaps the most reliable and futureproof technology to ensure port breakout server connectivity in a data centre . Optical fibre ensures longevity and can save money in the long term .
Optical fibre is ever more relevant in this space , whether DCI or mesh architecture , especially with the rapid evolution towards spine-leaf and fibre-dense mesh
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