POID: a passive all-optical inter-rack interconnect for data-centers

• Published in: Wireless networks 2021, Vol.27 (1), p.781-793
• Main Authors: Roychowdhury, Priyankar, Alghazo, Jaafar M., Latif, Ghazanfar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cloud computing; Communications Engineering; Computer centers; Computer Communication Networks; Data centers; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; Interconnect; IT in Business; Network latency; Networks; Optical fibers; Optical interconnects; Switching theory; Wavelength division multiplexing; Wireless networks
• ISSN: 1022-0038; 1572-8196
• DOI: 10.1007/s11276-020-02476-z

With the increase in demand for bandwidth-thirsty cloud-based services, bandwidth demands for rack-to-rack interconnect in data centers are increasing exponentially. In this paper, an optical interconnect architecture dubbed “POID” is proposed. The novel architecture is proposed using passive optical technology, wavelength division multiplexing, and innovative architectural concepts. The proposed architecture adequately supports the rack-to-rack traffic with latencies as low as few hundred nanoseconds while providing Tera bits per second throughput. The performance of the proposed architecture is evaluated through simulation studies and compared to other recent related data center interconnection networks from recent literature. The proposed POID architecture provides up to 10% improvement in throughput and up to about 82% reduction in latency compared to other comparative designs of data center interconnects using current optical fiber and switching technologies. The proposed PIOD incurs 22% power penalty compared to the existing best performing comparable designs.