Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.

Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.

A network (100) for a data center is disclosed. The network comprises computing resources (120), storage resources (110), and a switching apparatus (130). The switching apparatus (130) comprises a plurality of electrical switching components (140) configured to provide packet switching for traffic between computing resources or between computing and storage resources, and an optical switching fabric (150) configured to select an electrical switching component to provide packet switching between computing resources (120) and to provide connectivity between the plurality of electrical switching components (140) and the computing and storage resources (120, 110). Also disclosed is a method (400) for configuring a Virtual Performance Optimised Data Center (vPOD) in a network. The method comprises assigning computing resources of the network to the vPOD (410), assigning storage resources of the network to the vPOD (420) and assigning at least one of a plurality of electrical switching components of the network to provide packet switching for traffic between the computing resources of the vPOD or between the computing and storage resources of the vPOD (430). The method further comprises interconnecting the assigned computing and storage resources and the assigned at least one of a plurality of electrical switching components using an optical switching fabric (440).

A flat data center network includes a plurality of switches each including a first plurality of server facing ports connected to a first set of servers, and a plurality of network facing ports connected to other switches of the plurality of switches, wherein the plurality of switches are interconnected via corresponding network facing ports in a semi-structured random network architecture that enables additional servers to be added to the flat data center network during operation while maintaining random interconnect.

Various leaf switch modules including optical network interfaces, electrical network interfaces and packet processors are provided. Some of the leaf switch modules as described herein are adapted for upward transmission of signals from external client devices to an electrical fabric, and include O/E converters; other leaf switch modules are adapted for downward transmission of signals from an electrical fabric to external client devices, and include E/O converters. A third type of leaf switch as described herein is adapted for both upward and downward transmission of signals, and includes both types of converter. In addition to the leaf switch modules themselves, an optoelectronic switch containing a plurality of those leaf switches is also described.

Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.

Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.

Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.

Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.

Embodiments of the invention describe flexible (i.e., elastic) data center architectures capable of meeting exascale, while maintaining low latency and using reasonable sizes of electronic packet switches, through the use of optical circuit switches such as optical time, wavelength, waveband and space circuit switching technologies. This flexible architecture enables the reconfigurability of the interconnectivity of servers and storage devices within a data center to respond to the number, size, type and duration of the various applications being requested at any given point in time.