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US 9,736,556 B2Granted
Automated fiber cross-connect service within a multi-tenant interconnection facility
AssigneeEquinix, Inc.
InventorMohan Rao G. Lingampalli
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In general, techniques are described for automatically configuring fiber cross-connects between customers of an interconnection facility. In some examples, a programmable network platform for an interconnection facility exposes an interface by which customers of the interconnection system provider may request fiber cross-connects to other customers of the interconnection system provider. The programmable network platform may, in response to a request for a fiber cross-connect, configure an optical switch fabric of the interconnection facility network infrastructure to create a fiber cross-connect between the demarcation points for the customers to be interconnected.
Claims25
An interconnection system comprising:
- at least one interconnection facility and a programmable network platform,
- the at least one interconnection facility including:
- an optical switch fabric having a plurality of optical fibers and a plurality of photonic switches interconnected by the plurality of optical fibers;
- a first customer cage for a first customer of an interconnection system provider for the interconnection system, the first customer cage enclosing a customer space for the first customer within the at least one interconnection facility, and the first customer cage having a first fiber patch panel comprising a first plurality of provider-side optical ports accessible to the interconnection system provider and a first plurality of customer-side optical ports accessible to the first customer from within the first customer cage, the first plurality of provider-side optical ports including a first provider-side optical port operably coupled to a first optical fiber from the plurality of optical fibers;
- and
- a second customer cage for a second customer of the interconnection system provider, the second customer cage enclosing a customer space for the second customer within the at least one interconnection facility, and the second customer cage having a second fiber patch panel comprising a second plurality of provider-side optical ports accessible to the interconnection system provider and a second plurality of customer-side optical ports accessible to the second customer from within the second customer cage, the second plurality of provider-side optical ports including a second provider-side optical port operably coupled to a second optical fiber from the plurality of optical fibers, and
- the programmable network platform configured to, in response to receiving a fiber cross-connect request that requests an interconnection between the first customer and the second customer and specifies an identifier for the first provider-side optical port and an identifier for the second provider-side optical port for an end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect, configure the plurality of photonic switches to create an optical fiber cross-connect between the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber to provide the end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect that includes the first optical fiber, the second optical fiber, and the optical fiber cross-connect.
4 more elements
A computing device comprising:
- at least one programmable processor operably coupled to a memory;
- and
- a programmable network platform configured for execution by the at least one programmable processor to:
- receive a fiber cross-connect request that requests an interconnection in at least one interconnection facility between a first customer and a second customer and specifies an identifier for a first provider-side optical port and an identifier for a second provider-side optical port for an end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect;
- and
- in response to receiving the fiber cross-connect request, configure a plurality of photonic switches to create an optical fiber cross-connect between a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber to provide an end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect that includes the first optical fiber, the second optical fiber, and the optical fiber cross-connect,
- wherein the first customer has a first customer cage located within the at least one interconnection facility and the second customer has a second customer cage located within the at least one interconnection facility,
- wherein the first customer cage encloses a customer space for the first customer within the at least one interconnection facility, and the first customer cage includes a first fiber patch panel comprising a first plurality of provider-side optical ports accessible to an interconnection system provider for the at least one interconnection facility and a first plurality of customer-side optical ports accessible to the first customer from within the first customer cage, the first plurality of provider-side optical ports including the first provider-side optical port operably coupled to the first optical fiber from a plurality of optical fibers interconnecting the plurality of photonic switches to form an optical switch fabric, and
- wherein the second customer cage encloses a customer space for the second customer within the at least one interconnection facility, and the second customer cage includes a second fiber patch panel comprising a second plurality of provider-side optical ports accessible to the interconnection system provider and a second plurality of customer-side optical ports accessible to the second customer from within the second customer cage, the second plurality of provider-side optical ports including the second provider-side optical port operably coupled to the first optical fiber from the plurality of optical fibers.
6 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving, by a programmable network platform for at least one interconnection facility, a fiber cross-connect request that requests an interconnection in the at least one interconnection facility between a first customer and a second customer and specifies an identifier for the first provider-side optical port and an identifier for the second provider-side optical port for an end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect;
- and
- configuring, by the programmable network platform in response to receiving the fiber cross-connect request, a plurality of photonic switches to create an optical fiber cross-connect between a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber to provide an end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect that includes the first optical fiber, the second optical fiber, and the optical fiber cross-connect,
- wherein the first customer has a first customer cage located within the at least one interconnection facility and the second customer has a second customer cage located within the at least one interconnection facility,
- wherein the first customer cage encloses a customer space for the first customer within the at least one interconnection facility, and the first customer cage includes a first fiber patch panel comprising a first plurality of provider-side optical ports accessible to an interconnection system provider for the at least one interconnection facility and a first plurality of customer-side optical ports accessible to the first customer from within the first customer cage, the first plurality of provider-side optical ports including the first provider-side optical port operably coupled to the first optical fiber from a plurality of optical fibers interconnecting the plurality of photonic switches to form an optical switch fabric,
- wherein the second customer cage encloses a customer space for the second customer within the at least one interconnection facility, and the second customer cage includes a second fiber patch panel comprising a second plurality of provider-side optical ports accessible to the interconnection system provider and a second plurality of customer-side optical ports accessible to the second customer from within the second customer cage, the second plurality of provider-side optical ports including the second provider-side optical port operably coupled to the first optical fiber from the plurality of optical fibers.
3 more elements
An interconnection system comprising:
- at least one interconnection facility and a programmable network platform,
- the at least one interconnection facility including:
- an optical switch fabric having a plurality of optical fibers and a plurality of photonic switches interconnected by the plurality of optical fibers;
- a first customer cage for a first customer of an interconnection system provider for the interconnection system, the first customer cage having a first fiber patch panel that includes a first provider-side optical port operably coupled to a first optical fiber from the plurality of optical fibers;
- and
- a second customer cage for a second customer of the interconnection system provider, the second customer cage having a second fiber patch panel that includes a second provider-side optical port operably coupled to a second optical fiber from the plurality of optical fibers, and
- the programmable network platform configured to, in response to receiving a fiber cross-connect request that requests an interconnection between the first customer and the second customer, configure the plurality of photonic switches to create an optical fiber cross-connect between the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber to provide an end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect that includes the first optical fiber, the second optical fiber, and the optical fiber cross-connect,
- wherein the programmable network platform comprises:
- one or more network field units;
- and
- a centralized network control module including:
- a service interface configured to receive the fiber cross-connect request;
- and
- a fiber cross-connect provisioning engine configured to determine, based on the fiber cross-connect request, service parameters that specify one or more requirements to implement the end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect,
- wherein the fiber cross-connect provisioning engine is further configured to determine, based on the service parameters, at least one network field unit of the one or more network field units that are capable of servicing the fiber cross-connect request,
- wherein the at least one network field unit controls a portion of the optical switch fabric, wherein the service parameters are usable by the at least one network field unit to configure the portion of optical switch fabric to provide a segment of the end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect, and
- wherein the at least one network field unit is configured to configure the portion of optical switch fabric to provide a segment of the end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect.
14 more elements
A computing device comprising:
- at least one programmable processor operably coupled to a memory;
- and
- a programmable network platform configured for execution by the at least one programmable processor to:
- receive a fiber cross-connect request that requests an interconnection in an interconnection facility between a first customer and a second customer;
- and
- in response to receiving the fiber cross-connect request, configure a plurality of photonic switches to create an optical fiber cross-connect between a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber to provide an end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect that includes the first optical fiber, the second optical fiber, and the optical fiber cross-connect,
- wherein the first customer has a first customer cage located within the interconnection facility and the second customer has a second customer cage located within the interconnection facility,
- wherein the first customer cage includes a first fiber patch panel that includes a first provider-side optical port operably coupled to the first optical fiber from a plurality of optical fibers interconnecting the plurality of photonic switches to form an optical switch fabric,
- wherein the second customer cage includes a second fiber patch panel that includes a second provider-side optical port operably coupled to the first optical fiber from the plurality of optical fibers,
- wherein the programmable network platform comprises:
- one or more network field units;
- and
- a centralized network control module including:
- a service interface configured to receive the fiber cross-connect request;
- and
- a fiber cross-connect provisioning engine configured to determine, based on the fiber cross-connect request, service parameters that specify one or more requirements to implement the end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect,
- wherein the fiber cross-connect provisioning engine is further configured to determine, based on the service parameters, at least one network field unit of the one or more network field units that are capable of servicing the fiber cross-connect request,
- wherein the at least one network field unit controls a portion of the optical switch fabric, wherein the service parameters are usable by the at least one network field unit to configure the portion of optical switch fabric to provide a segment of the end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect, and
- wherein the at least one network field unit is configured to configure the portion of optical switch fabric to provide a segment of the end-to-end optical fiber cross-connect.
16 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.