Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1219491
24 I ICT TODAY SUMMARY The traditional enterprise data center and the hyperscale data center are at opposite ends of the spectrum. However, both are designed for use by one owner. As one might expect, they have very different scale, data rate and mainte- nance expectations. The cloud data center is fundamentally different. It is shared by many individual users and must accommodate all of their needs and expectations. In interconnection terms, it is a blend of the other two categories. The scale is closer to that of the hyperscale, but the data rate and maintenance expectations are more like the enterprise. Relative Importance Key High Medium Low Enterprise Cloud Hyperscale Transmission Data Rate Installation Latency Density Maintenance Migration While there are strong data center standards in place to ensure some level of uniformity from location to location, creativity is also alive and well in the ongoing designs of the modern data center. A WORD ABOUT COLOCATION DATA CENTERS The colocation data center is certainly an important participant in the data center market. However, from a cabling perspective, it can be viewed as falling into one of the other categories. This is due to how the cabling is administered. • In the multi-tenant data center, each of the partitioned spaces (whether rooms or cages) is simply the end-users' enterprise data center in a remote location. The one exception is the MMR. • In the wholesale data center, the entire data center is occupied by one or very few end users. Therefore, the cabling design is driven by the architecture choices of the tenant whether they are a hyperscale operator or a traditional enterprise. • In the service provider model, the definitions that define the "cloud" would cover the application. The purpose of this discussion was to focus on the similarities rather than the differences of each category. In terms of the number of companies or data centers, the hyperscale category is the smallest of the three categories. By most accounts, there are currently less than 1,000 of them in the world. However, in terms of the number of connections, it is the largest category.