Enabling Scalable and Sustainable Data Center Networks

Research Project, 2019 – 2021

The main objective of this proposal is to explore revolutionary, highly scalable and environmentally sustainable approaches for data center networks, providing interconnections among different servers within a data center as well as interfaces to Internet. We aim to develop and evaluate network architectures with the highest potential of enabling ultra-high-capacity and energy-efficient next generation data centers, which will be realized for the first time by integrating two optical networking technologies: broadcast-and-select approach and elastic spectrum allocation. Three specific tasks are: 1) Optical Interconnects at top of rack, based on broadcast-and-select structure to offer multicast capability; 2) Elastic optical core switches, supporting dynamic spectrum allocation for high flexibility; 3) Overall optical network architecture, integrating the schemes developed in (1) and (2) to achieve an optimized approach efficiently handling ever-increasing traffic in data center network. Sweden is an excellent choice for data center location while for a long time photonics has been a Swedish strategic industry. The outcome of the project will be available for Swedish photonics and data center industries, and can potentially enhance their long-term competitiveness. Moreover, we will create an attractive environment for bright female students and researchers to work in the project, further contributing to improvement of gender equality in this research area.