“Cloud, edge and 5G will dominate infrastructure development”

R&M (Reichle & De-Massari Holding AG) is a global producer of future-proof products and systems for communication and data networks. It has been collaborating closely with certified partners to offer innovative solutions in LAN, public and telecom networks as well as data centers.

The two-person company set up in 1964 to develop and produce simpler to install telephone outlets has over the years expanded to covers a vast range of develops connecting technologies for communication networks including fiber optic distributors, patch panels, and computer connection modules. The company’s India Managing Director Gaurav Ahluwalia in an interview with Anusha Ashwin talks about the trends in networking, infrastructure management, cabling, and cloud. Excerpts:

The pandemic has led to a surge in data usage in turn to the growth and demand of data centers. How is R&M addressing the market needs?

The digital age has prepared data centers (DCs) to cope with the surge in demand as well as any problems thrown against them including the pandemic. The industry has a long history of experience operating in difficult circumstances and environments and it has prepared the DCs to play this key role as the backstop for the rest of the economy.

Data traffic continues to grow exponentially, boosted by the internet of things (IoT), 5G, intelligent transport systems, and an ever-increasing number of wireless connections. R&M knows that an optimized data center network is a mission-critical component of a business-oriented IT infrastructure strategy. Our Netscale family offers the industry’s highest 19-inch cabinet fiber port density. The new fiber optic distribution platform Netscale 72 natively supports Base8 and Base12 parallel optical cabling and offers RFID-based automated port documentation and visual guidance of work orders.

Our inteliPhy net infrastructure management software provides an easy-to-use DCIM solution for asset, capacity, and change management. inteliPhy net can also help plan and control migrations, workflows, maintenance as well as patch jobs, and allows network managers to show they’re utilizing resources and satisfying quality, compliance, and service requirements.

We at R&M want to differentiate through two USPs – smart networks and customer journey excellence. We serve the Indian market specifically both with our Smart Networks solutions which help to bring automation and efficiency into the connectivity infrastructure and are already deployed at many Indian banks. At the same time, our production plant in Bangalore guarantees short lead times and flexibility to respond to our customers arising needs.

How has the cloud landscape impacted DCs?

Data centers are at the heart of many businesses. Providers are continuing to invest heavily in hyper-scale and co-location DCs, as well as in IT equipment and cabling. While this trend towards complex large-scale projects and high performance persists, the relatively new category of edge data centers is also gaining importance. When huge volumes of data need to be processed without latency, the transmission path to a central hyper-scale data center is often too long and too expensive. Edge computing will, therefore, be the next big thing on the path to the digitization of society and the economy.

We, therefore, need to set the course for edge computing now in order to build the necessary infrastructure for the coming decades. The cloud, edge, and 5G together will dominate infrastructure development in the future. There will not be a sharp distinction between the cloud and edge, but rather the two systems will complement and support each other.

Security has been a major concern since the world was hit by the pandemic, how is R&M tackling the growing security concerns and disaster recovery in DCs?

Enterprises depend on multiple layer defense to protect DCs from external security breaches. Industry-standard firewalls and access control lists are mostly used to enforce network segregation. Logs are routinely examined to reveal any exploitation of programming errors. Access to networked devices is restricted to authorized personnel all the while securing data in transit, at rest, and on backup media. Encryption is an important piece of security strategy, helping to protect emails, chats, and other data.

Organizations can also deploy artificial intelligence (AI) in the data center for data security. Data centers must identify and assess all mission-critical assets and risks. Once they have been identified it will be far easier to formulate a business continuity plan with specific goals in mind. Server load balancing and link load balancing are two strategies that may be used to help prevent the loss of data from an overload or outage in a data center.

What are the innovations that you are bringing to the market?

Netscale Fiber Cabling is a high-density multi-stranded cable, which forms the backbone of the data center. The Netscale range from R&M offers the highest density of FO ports in 19-inch cabinets in the industry. The new fiber optic distribution platform Netscale 72 combines unmatched fiber cable management with automated connectivity tracking and an innovative tray design to deliver the world’s highest port density for 10/40/100G Ethernet. With inteliPhy net, R&M is offering an easy-to-operate DCIM solution for asset, capacity, and change management

R&M’s optimal optical raceway and cable management designs – cabinets with integrated vertical and horizontal cable management – provide enhanced handling and more space for airflow; raceway design services already envision future moves, adds and changes.

We provide bandwidth-explosion-ready High-Performance Network Connectivity (HPNC) – best of breed OM5 optical fiber, Cat 8A twisted-pair, and SFP+ direct attach technology meet the bandwidth requirements of upcoming Ethernet and Fibre Channel applications.

x-anushaa@cybermedia.co.in