The National Supercomputer Centre (NSCC) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore have deployed the Infinera Cloud Xpress, using 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to connect two data centres in the delightfully named Biopolis and Fusionopolis reseach campuses in Singapore.
A*STAR is the first publically announced customer using this newest member of the Cloud Xpress family, introduced in the summer (see Infinera adds 100 Gigabit Ethernet to Cloud Xpress family).
A*STAR is a public sector agency in Singapore that spearheads economically oriented research to advance scientific discovery and develop innovative technology. A*STAR oversees 18 biomedical and physical sciences and engineering research entities primarily located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis. A*STAR's network provides high-performance computational (HPC) resources to the entire A*STAR community of over 800 users currently. In addition to managing several high-end computers, A*STAR is responsible for rapidly growing data storage resources. The Infinera Cloud Xpress featuring 100 GbE enables A*STAR and NSCC to meet the most demanding application needs of their research users with a reliable, high-capacity optical network.
Ideal for data centre interconnection (DCI), the Cloud Xpress exploits Infinera’s unique photonic integrated circuit technology to support up to one terabit of input and output capacity in just two rack units. The platform delivers a full 500Gb/s super-channel line-side capacity on a single fibre without requiring external multiplexers or amplifiers.
Including the 100 GbE platform, the Cloud Xpress family has three members, optimised for 10 GbE, 40 GbE and 100 GbE interfaces. While many other vendors have introduced platforms addressing the DCI market, Infinera maintains that its Cloud Xpress remains the only deployed platform offering high capacity, ultra-low power and a rack-and-stack form factor enabling customers like NSCC/A*STAR to scale with minimal space and power.
“Working with our partner Dimension Data, we are pleased to provide NSCC and A*STAR with a data centre interconnect solution that meets their bandwidth demands in space and power-limited data centre locations,” said Stu Elby, senior vice president of cloud network strategy and technology at Infinera. “Cloud Xpress is a purpose built data centre platform that addresses the needs of Singaporean scientists, especially in the very fast growing area of genomics and bioinformatics.”
Dimension Data is an information and computing provider that helps global IT, data and technology companies use ICT to accelerate their business. Png Kim Meng, managing director at Dimension Data Singapore, said: “It is our first venture in the optical networking space and we are happy to partner with Infinera to help clients achieve their current and future business objectives. The Infinera Cloud Xpress is a powerful data centre interconnect solution that delivers scale, operational simplicity and low power consumption, and is an excellent fit for constantly growing research infrastructure demands of the Singapore research community.”