THE ENGINEERING QUESTION THEREFORE IS HOW LARGE A DATA CENTRE IS IN TERMS OF THE NUMBER OF POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS AND WHAT KIND OF TRAFFIC REQUIREMENTS THEY HAVE .
EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
DR THOMAS KING , CTO , DE-CIX
he impact of Middle Eastern data centre
T investments on engineering strategies for an Internet Exchange ( IX ) will depend on what kind of data centres are built . IXs are interested in multi-tenant data centres with an interesting mix of different players like content networks , enterprises and last mile networks , in contrast to single-tenant data centres .
The basic function of an Internet Exchange is to bring together different peers . The engineering question therefore is how large a data centre is in terms of the number of potential customers and what kind of traffic requirements they have . Content networks usually have quite heavy traffic levels , needing one or more 400GE ports , whereas enterprises have relatively small amounts and require , for example , a 1GE port in a small PoP . It is also worth considering that enterprise customers have stricter requirements on availability , often require redundant connections and need APIs , self-service portals and ad-hoc provisioning to quickly adapt to their everchanging bandwidth needs .
If you look at the announcements made recently in the Middle East , it ' s interesting to see a mix of both types of data centre developments . There are announcements from the large hyperscalers – cloud service operators and content providers – who are building single-tenant data centres , but there are also multi-tenant data centre operators like Equinix and Digital Realty expanding in this market .
This data centre mix will allow existing IXs – like the UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX and the e & s Smart Hub in Dubai – to grow in terms of connected participants and traffic levels but we will also see new IXs being established . In a few Middle Eastern countries , different entities are starting to establish their own IXs . The challenge for these is that it can be difficult to ensure neutrality , either in terms of data centres or carriers , which is what allows the Internet Exchange business to flourish .
A lot of IXs in the region began as a single data centre and they are now becoming more distributed , following the European model of geographically distributed IXs , like DE-CIX in Frankfurt , AMS-IX in Amsterdam , or LINX in London . These are highly interconnected IXs with redundant connectivity between the multiple data centre sites . The infrastructure of DE-CIX Frankfurt , for example , is distributed across nearly 30 data centres .
So , the Middle Eastern focus on single sites is changing with the development and the opening up of markets to further support growth and drive demand .
THE ENGINEERING QUESTION THEREFORE IS HOW LARGE A DATA CENTRE IS IN TERMS OF THE NUMBER OF POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS AND WHAT KIND OF TRAFFIC REQUIREMENTS THEY HAVE .
Transforming to a distributed IX model means that long-haul connections between the different data centres need to be available in a redundant and high-capacity way , and they need to be integrated into the distributed IX .
This will benefit the quality of the Internet across the region and make it more accessible .
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