Data center architecture utilizing optical switches

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602434-B1
Application number	US-201414191208-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 26, 2014
Priority date	Feb 27, 2013
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hierarchical network of optical circuit switches, comprising:
a plurality of top of rack (ToR) optical circuit switches, arranged in a first level of optical circuit switches, for communicatively coupling to a plurality of host devices in a network rack; and
a plurality of spine optical circuit switches, arranged in a second level of optical circuit switches, communicatively coupled to the plurality of ToR optical circuit switches to provide interconnecting communication links to the plurality of host devices.

2. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first or second levels of optical circuit switches comprises at least one of:
a plurality of optical fiber switches;
a plurality of waveband switches;
a plurality of wavelength switches; or
a plurality of time domain switches.

3. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical network of optical circuit switches consists of two levels of optical circuit switches.

4. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical network of optical circuit switches comprises more than two levels of optical circuit switches.

5. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 4 , further comprising:
one or more switches for upward traffic from the plurality of ToR optical circuit switches to the plurality of spine optical circuit switches; and
an equal number of switches for downward traffic from the plurality of spine optical circuit switches to the plurality of ToR optical circuit switches.

6. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the first or second levels of optical circuit switches is configured to establish multiple decoupled partitions of the plurality of host devices.

7. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of time domain switches comprises at least one of one of a plurality of cyclic Optical Time Division Multiplex (OTDM) switches, or a plurality of configurable OTDM switches.

8. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of wavelength switches comprises at least one of a plurality of cyclic arrayed waveguide grating routers coupled to tunable lasers, one or more wavelength division multiplexing devices, or a plurality of wavelength selective switches.

9. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of optical fiber switches comprises at least one of a plurality of fiber patch panels, or a plurality of micro-electrical mechanical system space switches.

10. The hierarchical network of optical circuit switches of claim 1 , wherein the first and second levels of optical circuit switches are configured as a folded-Clos network of switches.

11. A method, comprising:
in a hierarchical network of electronic packet switches including a plurality of top of rack (ToR) switches, arranged in a first level of level of electronic packet switches, for communicatively coupling to a plurality of host devices in a network rack, and a plurality of spine switches, arranged in a second level of electronic packet switches, communicatively coupled to the plurality of ToR switches to provide interconnecting communication links to the plurality of host devices:
increasing a bisectional bandwidth of the hierarchical network of electronic packet switches by utilizing at least one level of optical circuit switches for interconnecting the first level of electronic packet switches and the second level of electronic packet switches; and
establishing multiple decoupled partitions of the plurality of host devices via the at least one level of optical circuit switches.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hierarchical network of electronic packet switches comprises a folded-Clos network of switches.

Assignees

• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Saleh Adel

Classifications

• H04J14/08

  Time-division multiplex systems · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0016

  using wavelength multiplexing or demultiplexing · CPC title

• H04Q11/0005 Primary

  Switch and router aspects · CPC title

• H04Q11/0066

  Provisions for optical burst or packet networks · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0056

  Clos · CPC title