Rack assembly structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9609782-B2
Application number	US-201414236583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2014
Priority date	Jan 15, 2013
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques and configurations for a rack assembly. In one embodiment, a tray to be disposed in a rack assembly may comprise a plurality of sleds with individual sleds including one or more compute nodes; and a networking element coupled with a sled of the plurality of sleds and configured to communicatively connect the sled to one or more other components of the rack assembly via an optical communication system. The optical communication system may include an external optical cable configured to communicatively connect the networking element with the rack assembly. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rack assembly, comprising:
a plurality of sleds with individual sleds including one or more compute nodes; and
a networking element coupled with a sled of the plurality of sleds to communicatively connect the sled to one or more other components of the rack assembly via an optical communication system, wherein the optical communication system includes an external optical cable to communicatively connect the networking element with the rack assembly, and an optical module to communicatively connect the networking element with the rack assembly via a switch component of the networking element, and to communicatively connect with the external optical cable via an optical jumper cable; and
a patch panel, wherein the external optical cable is to communicatively connect the networking element with the patch panel of the rack assembly.

2. The rack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the switch component is to communicatively connect the sleds to the optical communication system, to transmit and receive optical data streams.

3. The rack assembly of claim 2 , wherein the networking element includes a control unit, to manage communicative connections provided by the switch component.

4. The rack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the patch panel is a passive patch model to provide communicative connections within the rack assembly or between the rack assembly and another rack assembly, the communicative connections forming a connectivity model.

5. The rack assembly of claim 4 , wherein the connectivity model includes an n-dimensional (N-D) ring topology, Clos topology, or a combination thereof.

6. The rack assembly of claim 1 , wherein a tray comprises a front end and a back end, wherein the tray is disposed in the rack assembly with the back end facing a frame of the rack assembly.

7. The rack assembly of claim 6 , wherein the external optical cable is communicatively connected with the optical jumper cable with a parallel optics connector disposed at the front end of the rack assembly.

8. The rack assembly of claim 6 , wherein the networking element comprises a mezzanine card disposed in the back end of the tray.

9. The rack assembly of claim 6 , wherein the sled is to be removable from the tray without removing the tray from the rack assembly.

10. The rack assembly of claim 1 , wherein the compute node comprises a central processing unit.

11. The rack assembly of any of claim 1 , wherein the compute node comprises a memory.

12. A method for forming a rack assembly, comprising:
providing a tray of the rack assembly, including a plurality of sleds, with individual sleds including one or more compute nodes, and a networking element coupled with a sled of the plurality of sleds to communicatively connect the sled to one or more components of the rack assembly;
assembling an optical communication system, including providing an optical module to communicatively connect the networking element with the one or more components of the rack assembly via a switch component of the networking element, and communicatively connecting the optical module to an external optical cable via an optical jumper cable, the external optical cable to communicatively connect the networking element with a patch panel of the rack assembly; and
communicatively connecting the tray to the rack assembly with the optical communication system.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the switch component is to communicatively connect the sleds to the optical communication system, wherein providing a tray further includes coupling the switch component with a network interface component to provide network connection for the tray.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein providing a tray further includes:
disposing a parallel optics connector about a front end of the tray; and
communicatively connecting the optical jumper cable with the external optical cable via the parallel optics connector.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
disposing the tray on the rack assembly, with a back end of the tray facing a frame of the rack assembly and the front end of the tray facing outward.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the compute node comprises a central processing unit or a memory.

Assignees

• Faw Donald L
• Cummings Uri V
• Trausch Terrence J
• Daly Daniel P
• Alduino Andrew C
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Faw Donald L
• Cummings Uri V
• Trausch Terrence J
• Daly Daniel P
• Alduino Andrew C

Classifications

• H04Q1/13

  Patch panels for monitoring, interconnecting or testing circuits, e.g. patch bay, patch field or jack field; Patching modules · CPC title

• Y10T29/49906

  Metal deforming with nonmetallic bonding · CPC title

• H05K7/1487

  Blade assemblies, e.g. blade cases or inner arrangements within a blade · CPC title

• H04Q1/09

  Frames or mounting racks not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• H05K7/1492

  having electrical distribution arrangements, e.g. power supply or data communications · CPC title