New Solutions
Why Full-Stack Data Centers Have Arrived at the Right Time
Our full-stack data center solution reshapes computing and storage, networks, disaster recovery, and green technology in a way that can drive enterprise digital transformation and power the digital world.
By Kang Zhe, ICT Marketing Dept, Huawei
Optimized infrastructure build-out and data centers are at the heart of digital transformation and the digital economy. To take infrastructure to the next level, data centers need to be cloud-based, integrated, and green.
Cloud-based
As the key to unlocking enterprise digital transformation, it is predicted that all enterprises will adopt cloud technology by 2025, marking the end of traditional data centers. According to IDC, spending on cloud-based data centers will account for 66.1% of total spending on compute and storage infrastructure by 2025.
Integrated
For both large companies and nations, highly integrated data centers enable a centralized approach to building systems and data center infrastructure. To create a nationwide computing network, for example, China is planning eight national computing hubs and ten national data center clusters.
Moreover, the proportion of racks used in large data centers is increasing and will continue to grow, jumping from 70% in 2019 to 84% in 2021.
Green
Achieving peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality requires far higher data center energy efficiency. Released in 2022, China's work plan for conserving energy and reducing emissions calls for green data centers and energy-efficient new infrastructure. In turn, the EU requires data centers to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Huawei's full-stack data center solution addresses customer concerns about computing, storage, networks, disaster recovery, and energy efficiency. The solution can reshape data center infrastructure, drive enterprise digital transformation, and power digital economies and digital society.
Huawei's full-stack data center solution reshapes computing and storage, networks, disaster recovery, and green development
Reshaping computing and storage to resolve performance bottlenecks
The trends of digital services, converged technologies, and data monetization are driving exponential growth in the demand for data and computing power. By 2030, the total amount of data generated worldwide is expected to reach 1 YB annually, a 23-fold increase over 2020. At the same time, the total amount of general-purpose computing required worldwide will reach 3.3 ZFLOPS, a tenfold increase over 2020. As technologies continue to evolve and Moore's law approaches its limit, traditional computing designed for a single purpose will be unable to meet more diverse service needs.
In response, Huawei's data center solutions focus on three areas:
All-flash acceleration in all scenarios. For main storage, and powered by a Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) Over Fabric Plus (NoF+) network and FlashLink algorithm, Huawei's OceanStor Dorado cuts latency to 0.05 ms and increases the number of e-invoices processed by 150%. For data analytics, Huawei's OceanStor Pacific improves performance density by 60% and accelerates analytics by 75% by using proprietary high-density all-flash architecture and distributed parallel clients. For data backup, Huawei's OceanProtect applies the intelligent direct TCP offload engine (DTOE) and intelligent multi-core algorithms to provide end-to-end acceleration, increasing backup bandwidth by 300% and shortening back up time for 1 PB of data by 70%.
Synergy between diverse computing resources: The digital transformation of different industries requires diverse computing applications and massive computing power. Huawei's FusionCube synergizes different types of xPUs to free up CPU resources and increase virtual machine (VM) density by 20%. It also resolves database performance bottlenecks, builds database resource pools, and migrates core services to cloud.
Multi-form resource coordination: Supported by the Huawei Cloud Stack (HCS) solution, multiple forms of resources, including hardware, virtualization, hybrid clouds, and public clouds, can be centrally managed and scheduled. This solution also allows for one-click application deployment and high scalability, cutting deployment time from days to hours.
Reshaping networks for one-stop private-line provisioning in minutes
Managing network capabilities is increasingly difficult when enterprises expand. Huawei's private-line solution offers:
Hyper-converged data center networks (DCNs): provides three types of networks for converged storage, high-performance computing, and common services. All use all-Ethernet architecture, reducing TCO by 30%. Our iLossless algorithm optimizes network traffic in real time, ensuring end-to-end microsecond-level latency and zero packet loss while maximizing computing power.
Agile and efficient data center interconnect (DCI): uses 800G optical modules and Super C + Super L WDM technologies to increase the bandwidth per optical fiber to 96 Tbit/s and build a non-blocking network connecting data centers. Additionally, 5-ms switchover for network protection reduces packet loss caused by network self-healing by 90%.
Data-network synergy: uses configuration plane simulation technology to match service provisioning with live network resources, ensure network-wide connectivity, and enable one-stop private line provisioning in minutes. The service-aware Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) helps build a deterministic network SLA tunnel on backbone networks to guarantee SLAs for private lines.
Reshaping disaster recovery for ubiquitous, reliable assurance
Data center architecture is moving from standalone to geo-redundant, multi-location, and multi-active. Disaster recovery (DR) has become far more complex as a result of more diverse deployment environments. Huawei provides full-stack DR, full-cycle backup, and unified DR management, offering secure, reliable assurances for data center services anytime, anywhere.
Full-stack DR: provides a series of DR and coordination solutions such as cloud-native and storage solutions. Huawei's cloud-native solutions support end-to-end cloud service DR for multiple components such as containers, distributed cache service (DCS), relational database service (RDS), and object storage service (OBS). The storage layer uses gateway-free, active-active storage area network (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS), enabling geo-redundancy plus 99.99999% reliability and near-zero data loss. Our Storage Optical Connection Coordination (SOCC) technology shortens active-active link switchover time from 50 ms to 5 ms and I/O path switchover time from 1 minute to 1 second, ensuring zero service interruptions or congestion.
Full-cycle fast backup: uses backup media with a compression ratio of up to 75:1. Networks use a high compression ratio algorithm that saves 20% in network bandwidth, and the open ecosystem makes the solution compatible with mainstream backup software. Data images are reloaded to the cloud for reuse, maximizing data value.
Unified DR management: provides a one-stop, visualized, and unified DR management platform for end-to-end services, simplifying management and providing data centers with a holistic picture of system DR status.
Reshaping green development for low-carbon, energy-efficient data centers
Assuming a ten-year service life, the electricity cost of a data center accounts for more than 60% of TCO. Huawei's green and intelligent technology enables low-carbon, energy-efficient data centers spanning four areas:
Green construction: Our prefabricated modular FusionDC can be installed installed immediately after delivery. The "what you see is what you get" approach helps shorten end-to-end project delivery from 20 months to 6 months and reduces construction waste. More than 80% of construction materials can be recycled and a 1,200-cabinet data center can reduce carbon emissions by over 8,000 tons.
Green power supply and distribution: Our power modules adopt a highly integrated, modular design featuring high density and high efficiency, reducing the equipment footprint by 40%. The AI-powered predictive maintenance function monitors the service life of fans and capacitors in real time, improving reliability. And the intelligent online mode improves power supply efficiency from 94.5% to 97.8%.
Green cooling: Our indirect evaporative cooling system is a natural cooling system based on a macromolecular heat exchange core. It maximizes the use of natural cooling sources and reduces cooling system power consumption by 40-60%. Supported by AI, Huawei's iCooling solution adjusts cooling parameters in real time, so that cooling capacity can match service loads. PUE is cut from 1.4 to less than 1.2, lowering annual power use by at least 14%.
Green O&M: The AI-based digital management system NetEco can centrally and intelligently manage medium and large data centers, as well as multiple data centers. It monitors and adjusts power, environment, energy consumption, equipment status, and alarms, reducing O&M labor costs by 35%.
It is predicted that by 2026, more than 90% of computing power and data will be aggregated in data centers, with the global ultra-large data center market expected to be worth US$127.64 billion. As a leader in ICT infrastructure, Huawei is committed to doing what we do best in digital infrastructure: building full-stack data center solutions and providing software, hardware, and product portfolios that meet the needs of the digital age, help customers go digital, and achieve business success.