More and more organizations are making efforts to reduce their environmental footprint, but being greener should not mean incurring higher costs. Network architecture is also concerned by this problematic: we wish to deploy a greener network, with same or better service levels, but without increasing the cost. What if there was a network architecture that accomplished exactly that?
Fibre To The Office
There is a network architecture solution that is efficient and environmentally friendly, and that reduces both the installation and operation costs. The Fibre-To-The-Office design, or FTTO, brings savings in cabling, power consumption and space. It is a greener and more cost-effective solution than the classic design.
The FTTO design is based on a ring topology, where switches are deployed as close as possible to user devices, in false ceiling and under the floor, resulting in reduced copper cabling lengths and costs. Wiring closets are no longer needed because network devices are distributed across the floor, instead of being deployed at a central point. The saved space can be reused for other purposes.
Access switches are fan-less, which means that they don’t require energy-intensive cooling.
We can compare the FTTO design with the traditional one, with 2 or 3-tier of network devices. It has many negative points: the need for wiring closets, cabling distance limitations, and a high use of electricity and copper.
Considering FTTO may improves your network in multiple ways. Only one wiring closet is required, which results in less power consumption for cooling. The access layer is fan-less and requires no cooling, once again reducing the electricity bill. Installing the access switches closer to the user results in shorter copper cable lengths and lower cabling costs. Lastly, a single network management system can manage all devices (switches and APs) through a single pane of glass, thus simplifying day-to-day operations.
Why choose ALE?
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s OmniSwitch range perfectly fits with FTTO architectures. The OmniSwitch 6900 family provides 1 or 10G fibre links towards access-layer rings running the ERP protocol and can form a virtual chassis of up to 6 devices.
The OmniSwitch 6465(T) and 6865 fan-less switches are ideal for installation in false ceilings and under floors. They provide PoE to feed devices such as APs and phones.
OmniSwitch 6900 and 6465(T) support MACSec encryption to secure uplinks from sniffing, man in the middle and other threats.
Takeaways
To conclude, three key points to remember:
- Savings: the FTTO design leads to savings in multiples ways: power consumption, cabling and space.
- Environment: the FTTO design is greener, as it requires less power for cooling and less copper.
- Single pane of glass: whether on-prem or in the cloud, OmniVista is the single network management system required to deploy and operate the unified access network.
Choosing the FTTO design by Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is the key to deploying a cost-effective, high-performance and environmentally-friendly network!
Benjamin Rougeaux is a Network Solutions Architect at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and is currently focusing on OmniVista, OmniSwitch and OmniAccess Stellar. Benjamin has a Master’s degree in Computer Science with a Telecommunications Specialisation from Sorbonne University in Paris.
Prior to becoming a Network Solutions Architect, Benjamin gained experience as an apprentice within ALE’s Technical Support organization and at the Solution Lab. He also worked as a consultant for a power distribution company and returned to ALE after this experience.
During his time off, Benjamin stays up to date of new technological innovations, and never misses a space rocket launch.
