Revealing the future: NTT’s low-latency network seamlessly integrates urban and suburban data centers in the US and UK

during Upgrade 2024, NTT Corporation (NTT) And NTT data The successful demonstration was presented to Complete Photonics Network (APN)Ultra-low latency driven connections between data centers located in the US and UK. In the UK, NTT’s interconnected data centers are located north and east of London through… NTTInnovative Optical Wireless Network (IOWN) APN,Achieves communication with a round-trip delay of less than 1 ms. Likewise, in the US, data centers in Northern Virginia achieved similar results. The main goal of deploying an NTT APN is to create a geographically distributed IT infrastructure that operates as a single data center.

The data center market faces significant local challenges. Limitations on carbon dioxide emissions and scarcity of land have made building data centers in urban areas difficult, prompting operators to shift to suburban areas. However, as data centers are spread over long distances, communication delay and high latency can become significant, making it a major impediment to meeting low-latency customer requests.

During the proof-of-concept trial, interconnected data centers between NTT and NTT DATA in the UK (HH2 in Hemel Hempstead and LON1 in Dagenham) and in the US (VA1 and VA3 in Ashbourne) were interconnected using NEC’s APN equipment. Data centers in the UK and US are separated by distances of 89 km and 4 km respectively. Measurements on 100 Gbps and 400 Gbps links showed that the two UK APN-connected data centers operated with less than 1 millisecond (about 0.9 ms) of latency, with a delay difference of less than 0.1 microsecond. Comparatively, cloud connectivity provider Megaport states that the typical delay between data centers at a similar distance exceeds 2,000 microseconds (2 milliseconds).

In the US scenario, the delay over a much shorter range was around 0.06 ms, with a delay difference of less than 0.05 microseconds. In contrast, traditional networks using generic Layer 2 switches experience delay variation ranging from several microseconds to tens of microseconds. In essence, an APN reduces latency by half and jitter by orders of magnitude.

APN is not just a technological advancement, but a solution that meets the needs of various industries. It provides the ultra-low latency needed for existing and emerging use cases, including real-time distributed AI analysis (e.g. IIoT and predictive maintenance), intelligent monitoring systems, smart grid and energy management, natural disaster detection and response, among others. . NTT DATA is also conducting demonstrations in the financial sector, where low latency is critical for money transfers, settlements and transactions. An additional advantage of the IOWN APN is its ability to energize lines simply by adding wavelengths, eliminating the need to install new dark fibres. It enables data center operators to respond to customer demand at the speed of light.

Dr. Yusuke Aragani, Vice President of IOWN Development Office, NTT, explains the new All-Photonics Network (APN) technology

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