Linear Pluggable Optics Save Energy in Data Centers(semiengineering.com)
15 pointsby PaulHoule4 months ago3 comments
  • tonetegeatinst4 months ago
    The article mentions fiber becoming more common in the rack and I'd agree....as iv seen its popularity grow in the homelab space.

    As a broke college student, I have lots of experience with Cisco networking equipment and have taken quite a few classes for networking. I'm trying to get my hands on a free/ultra cheap high end Cisco device that can do some more modern feature set like ROCM and other newer technologies. It also would let me upgrade my local network from 10 gig, but the main goal would be to get hands on experience with 400 and 800 gig equipment.

  • jeffrallen4 months ago
    As someone responsible for explaining to junior operations people why we call them ToR switches when they are in fact in the middle of the rack (due to efficiency of the copper cable lengths) could we please agree to stop calling them ToR switches?
    • benlivengood4 months ago
      Thick-of-rack is one way to backronym it, but twixt might fit somehow. Do clos networks now wire up a few switches equidistantly spaced within the rack or has clos gone the way of hardware-defined networking?
    • namibj4 months ago
      You put it at the top when you build it and add servers as you grow. Traditionally.
      • jeffrallen4 months ago
        Right, but good luck routing the 100 gig DAC cable (absolute max length 3 m, but cheaper and more reliable at 1.5 m) 12 inches horizontally, 40 U vertically and then another 12 horizontally.

        This is why switches are in the middle of the rack.

  • nimish4 months ago
    Linear here means just an analog amplifier, no retiming, or DSP or anything