Software-enable energy-efficient hardware infrastructure for next-generation data centres

拟议的3年项目战略性地解决了与迫切需要扩展数据中心以支持云计算和物联网（IoT）的出现有关的挑战，物联网的出现导致存储和传输的数据呈指数级增长。数据中心的硬件基础设施变得越来越昂贵和耗电，需要行业寻找实用的扩展解决方案。事实上，数据中心在分布在通常超过10，000平方米的区域内的机架中的数万台服务器之间具有点对点互连。光纤互连（OFI）目前用于10 Gb/s的数据传输，很快将发展到25 Gb/s。然而，数据需求正在推动IEEE快速定义和采用更高比特率的标准，而当前的OFI无法满足这些标准，因此迫切需要开发适当的解决成本、功耗和空间问题的标准。两名研究人员正在整合他们在光子学和电子学方面的专业知识，以战略性地瞄准支持物联网的基础设施解决方案的需求。他们正在与来自数据中心硬件供应链的三家加拿大行业合作伙伴合作。Intengent是一家III-V高速光电子设计公司。Reflex Photonics是一家收发器制造商。华为加拿大正在开发和建设下一代数据中心。麦吉尔大学的Odile Liboiron-Ladouceur教授和康考迪亚大学的Glenn科万教授是两位充满活力的新任命的副教授，他们将为加拿大工业培养总共11名具有宝贵技能的学生。该项目也是合作伙伴的重中之重，使他们能够进一步在市场上站稳脚跟。

The proposed 3-year project strategically addresses the challenges related to the urgent need for scaling data centres to support cloud computing and the emergence of Internet-of-Things (IoT) which are giving rise to an exponential growth in data to be stored and transmitted. The hardware infrastructure in data centres is becoming costly and power hungry, requiring industry to look for practical scaling solutions. Indeed, data centres have point-to-point interconnections between tens of thousands of servers in racks spread across an area that is often more than 10,000 meter square. Optical fiber interconnection (OFI) is currently used with data transmission at 10 Gb/s soon moving to 25 Gb/s. However, the data demand is pushing the IEEE to quickly define and adopt standards at higher bit rates that current OFI does not meet and must urgently be developed properly addressing cost, power, and space. Two investigators are merging their expertise in photonics and electronics to strategically target the need for an infrastructure solution to support IoT. They are teaming up with three Canadian industry partners from the hardware supply chain for data centres. Intengent is a design house of high-speed optoelectronics in III-V. Reflex Photonics is a transceiver manufacturer. Huawei Canada is developing and building next-generation data centres. The co-PIs, Prof. Odile Liboiron-Ladouceur from McGill University and Prof. Glenn Cowan from Concordia University, are dynamic, newly appointed associate professors who will train a total of 11 students with invaluable skills to the benefit of Canadian industry. The project is also a top priority for the partners, enabling them to further establish themselves in the market.