SOLUTION BRIEF

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Challenge

Provide a high-performance, scalable

network infrastructure that offers

a unified modular management

platform to enable the challenging

operational requirements of today’s

virtualized and cloud environments.

Solution

Juniper Networks QFabric family of

products and Panduit Unified Physical

Infrastructure-based solutions help

enterprises design and build the

optimal physical infrastructure and

take advantage of a switch fabric for

the data center.

Benefits

• Highly scalable to meet demands of

growing data centers

• Reduced deployment time with pre-

configured infrastructure solutions

• Reduced energy consumption

• Simplified cabling infrastructure

• Full range of services to assess,

design, and maintain data center

infrastructure

• Consistent low end-to-end latency

switch and storage fabric

OPtImIzed PHySICal INFRaStRUCtURe SOlUtION FOR tHe mOdeRN data CeNteR Juniper Networks and Panduit Reduce time and Complexity for today’s data Center deployments

Today’s data centers are mission critical facilities that have undergone a series of

significant changes in recent years. As a result of the constantly changing and highly

complex IT landscape, modern data centers will continue to place unique demands on

the physical infrastructure, which must not only support the requirements of the data

center, but must also perfectly align to the logical network design.

As operational requirements drive data center technology in new directions, the

network is defining the data center of the future. The use of traditional three-

tier hierarchical network architectures, once the industry standard, are now being

reconsidered due to the constraints they put on operational agility and performance.

Enterprises need a network architecture that incorporates agility, modularity, and

efficiency in IT manageability. Achieving these benefits relies on critical infrastructure

considerations.

Panduit and Juniper Networks have come together to offer comprehensive solutions

to meet these new operational requirements. Panduit offers a complete physical

infrastructure portfolio that includes cabinets, cable management, High Speed Data

Transport (HSDT), and operational management solutions. These offerings used in

conjunction with Juniper Networks® QFabric™ technology enable customers to easily

architect modern cloud-ready data centers.

The ChallengeWith the network infrastructure becoming the epicenter of the data center of the future,

it has become evident to more and more enterprises that traditional three-tiered network

architectures are not capable of supporting the requirements of growing business

systems. traffic patterns and latency sensitivity have shifted closer attention to network

architecture in recent years. In the past, a majority of data center traffic moved north

and south in the network tree between users and servers. traditional hierarchal “tree”

architectures worked fine for these applications. However, with today’s traffic patterns,

most network traffic—up to 75%—is traveling east to west, between devices within the

data center. as a result, traversing the data center requires as many as five network hops,

adding both latency and jitter which directly impacts application performance.

In a typical tree configuration, server and storage resources are located in close proximity

to each other. as long as applications don’t “move” the network, performance is

predictable. However, the desire to better utilize compute and storage resources requires

more flexibility in application placement and hence a network design that can deliver

connectivity while not sacrificing application performance.

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In addition, storage cannot be considered separately from the

data center. enterprise data center operators and administrators

are looking for a way to both simplify and converge their laNs and

storage area networks (SaNs). this would ultimately save money

and allow increased operational efficiency. the ability to scale

is critical for today’s data centers. In order to build cloud-ready

data centers (both private and public), high levels of scalability,

elasticity, and multi-tenancy capabilities are required.

QFabric technology is built for scalable data centers. It is a

revolutionary design that creates a single-tier network that can

be operated and managed like a single logical ethernet switch.

It provides a quantum leap in performance, scale, and simplicity,

while delivering the ability to support the fully converged and

virtualized environments that are critical success factors for

today’s data centers.

the single-tier switch QFabric architecture needs to be combined

with intelligent physical infrastructure solutions that will

provide high performance and reliability, ease of scalability, and

simplicity of management. this is where Panduit plays a key role

in supplying world-class physical infrastructure solutions for the

Juniper Networks QFabric family of products.

The Juniper Networks QFabric – Panduit Unified Physical Infrastructure SolutionOne of the biggest challenges with today’s data center is keeping

the network simple while enabling it to grow without making

uncomfortable performance trade-offs. adding new switches is

the typical response to network growth, but that means more

devices to manage and, more importantly, a potentially negative

impact on network performance due to switch locations.

QFabric technology effectively addresses this challenge. the

QFabric architecture has a unique ability to reduce complexity

by flattening the network to a single tier, providing any-to-any

connectivity that ensures every device is no more than a single

hop away from any other device. Increasing port counts with

QFabric architecture does not increase complexity or add devices

to manage, since all QFabric solution components are managed

as a single device.

In order to effectively design this innovative single-tier QFabric

architecture, it is critical that the enterprise has comprehensive,

intelligent physical infrastructure solutions in place from an

industry leader such as Panduit. Panduit offers a complete

solution for the infrastructure supporting single-tier, fabric-based

networks. the following paragraphs and table outline the key

physical infrastructure areas to support QFabric technology.

Panduit Cabinet and Cable Management Solutions: Panduit

cabinet and cable management solutions help enable new data

center architectures like QFabric technology. Panduit cabinet and

rack solutions support both 2-post and 4-post applications with

sizes ranging from 42 to 52 RU. the cabinet solution also includes

cable management and thermal management both within and

outside the cabinet.

Panduit HSDT Solutions: Panduit fiber optic and copper cabling

solutions for 10Gb, 40Gb, and 100Gb ethernet, and 8 Gb, 16 Gb, 32

Gb Fibre Channel communications help enable new data center

architectures such as QFabric technology. Panduit Signature Core

Fiber Optic Cabling System is a new innovative high-performance

fiber that balances both modal and chromatic dispersion,

allowing it to extend its reach beyond standard requirements.

Panduit is paving the way in the relevant standard bodies to

promote enhanced customer expectations through the use of this

new technology. Signature Core extends the radius of QFabric

architecture to meet customer implementation requirements.

Panduit copper technology incorporated into its 10Gbe SFP+

direct attach copper (daC) cable assemblies and Cat6a and

Cat6a-Sd (small diameter) unshielded twisted pair for 10Gbe

Base-t provides enhanced performance characteristics. Both

copper and fiber products can be incorporated into the QuickNet

solution family that offers pre-engineered, pre-assembled, and

pre-tested assemblies. this greatly speeds up the deployment of

the solution as well as ensuring expected performance.

Panduit Operational Management Solutions: Panduit operational

management solutions help enable new data center architectures

like Juniper Networks QFabric architecture. these solutions

include grounding, identification, and labeling products, as well as

Physical Infrastructure manager (PIm) software.

Table 1: Panduit Complete Physical Infrastructure Portfolio for QFabric Technology

Cabinet and cable management solutions • dynamic load rated cabinets• Cable management/pathway solutions• zone systems (overhead/under floor)• data center facility/cabinet/equipment thermal management• Pre-configured/ready to deploy systems• High-density patch panels

HSdt cabling solutions • Fiber technology (Om3, Om4, Signature Core, Hydra Systems)• Copper technology (SFP, QSFP quad small form-factor pluggable transceiver), QSFP to

SFP+ Hydras)• QuickNet fiber/copper technologies (pre-engineered, pre-assembled, pre-tested assemblies)

Operational management solutions • Power outlet units (POUs) • data Center Infrastructure management (dCIm)—physical infrastructure software monitoring

(e.g., power usage, thermal)• Grounding solutions (equipment and eSd protection)• Identification solutions (cable colors and labeling)• Installation guides/reference architectures

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QFabric technology is Juniper Networks’ leading data center

switching architecture, intended to radically transform the

economics and performance of networking in the modern data

center. Introduced in early 2011, the QFabric family of products is

designed to address the emerging requirements of modern data

centers ranging in size from small high-performance computing

(HPC) clusters, to large-scale virtualized and converged access

enterprise data centers, to cloud-based mega data centers.

QFabric technology exploits the homogeneity and regular layout

of a rack-based server infrastructure, as well as a future-proofed

cabling approach for 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps intra-data center

connectivity. a single QFabric system converged switch/router can

scale up to 6,000 10Gbe ports in up to 128 racks with end-to-end

latency of five microseconds under typical loads. the lossless

QFabric architecture, which is suitable for storage traffic, delivers

non-blocking any-to-any connectivity, a Spanning tree Protocol

(StP)-free environment for l2 deployments, and a scale-out

architecture for both l2 and l3 use cases—all managed as a single

device. QFabric architecture is the result of nearly three years of

extensive R&d investments, and it is the networking industry’s

first true network fabric, producing more than 100 different patent

filings across multiple areas of innovation.

the QFabric architecture consists of four separate but

interdependent building blocks—Juniper Networks QFX3500

Node, QFX3008 Interconnect, QFX3100 director, and out-of-

band management. these work together to create a single high-

performance, low latency fabric, unleashing the full power of the

data center. By taking the basic attributes found in any switch fabric

and breaking them out into these individual components, QFabric

technology introduces a highly scalable solution that revolutionizes

the data center network.

each component plays a vital role in how the QFabric architecture

works.

• QFabric Node: In the QFabric architecture, the line cards that

typically reside within a modular chassis switch become high-

density, fixed-configuration, 1 U edge devices that provide access

into and out of the fabric. the Node, which can also operate as an

independent top-of-rack (tOR) 10Gbe switch, provides compute,

storage, services, and network access for the QFabric architecture.

• QFabric Interconnect: the Interconnect represents the typical

backplane of a modular switch, connecting all Node edge devices

in a full mesh topology. this topology provides the data plane

connectivity between all Nodes, with the Interconnect acting as

the high-performance backplane.

• QFabric Director: the Routing engines embedded within a

modular switch are externalized in the QFabric architecture via

the director, which provides control and management services for

the fabric. deployed in clusters to provide redundancy, directors

provide a single management interface to manage the scalable

data plane provided by the Node and Interconnect devices.

With all components working together, the QFabric architecture

behaves as a single logical switch that seamlessly integrates into

the existing data center infrastructure.

Figure 1 provides a logical view and a physical view of the Panduit

and QFabric solution.

Physical View – Juniper Networks and Panduit

QFabric Directorsand Interconnect

Network Services(Firewall, Loadbalancer,

Routers)

Storage Devices(NAS, FC/FCoE,

iSCSI)

Servers(Blade Chassis, Rackable)

StorageRack(s)

w/QFX TOR

ComputeRack(s)

w/QFX TOR

Network ServicesRack(s)

w/QFX TOR

Logical View

Figure 1: QFabric System in Panduit Solution

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Features and Benefitsadoption of the Juniper-Panduit solution enables users to enjoy the following features and benefits:

Table 2: Juniper-Panduit Solution Features and Benefits

Feature Benefit

PanduitReduced power consumption with energy efficient cabinets • modular components that address power, cooling, space, and cable management

challenges, enabling a 25% reduction in energy consumption*, deployment speed, and optimized space utilization

Simplified deployments with pre-configured physical infrastructures

• Helps reduce deployment times up to 65%* and mitigates the risk of adopting new technologies with reliable and robust preconfigured infrastructures

Increased management capabilities enabled by intelligent software and hardware

• enables effective optimization of the data center’s space, power, and capacity planning through 10% Opex savings in energy costs, 75% faster moves, adds, and changes, and 80% faster mean time to repair (mttR)*

maximized network performance with HSdt cabling • delivers maximum flexibility during planning, designing, commissioning, and operation of the data center

Support throughout the process available with data Center advisory Services

• Full range of physical infrastructure layer services to help assess, design, and maintain resilient, sustainable solutions to reduce costs by up to 20%*

QFabric ArchitectureSimplified operation • Single logical control point for entire fabric

true scale-out capability • architecture that scales up to 6,000 10Gbe ports and 128 racks, with the ability to scale beyond 10Gbe in the future

low latency fabric • less than 5 microseconds consistently across the fabric between any two interfaces

Virtualization and converged architecture • architecture that is optimized for server virtualization, making it easier for enterprises to eliminate “stranded capital”

• eliminates the need to provision separate networks for laN and SaN trade-offs found with three-tiered tree networks

High availability (Ha) • Carrier-class infrastructure with no single point of failure or downtime for reconfiguration and maintenance

Green • Consumes less power, requires less cooling, uses simplified cabling, and produces a fraction of the carbon footprint of legacy multi-tiered data center networks

Solution Componentsthe Panduit-Juniper joint solution consists of the QFabric

architecture and the Panduit complete physical infrastructure

portfolio which includes the following:

• Cabinets

• Cable management/pathways

• HSdt cabling solutions

• Operational management solutions

Summary the QFabric architecture is purpose-built to address the

challenges posed by new trends in data center networking. It is

the industry’s first truly scale-out architecture that allows users

to build a network incrementally, with a single top-of-rack device

that enables connectivity to an additional rack of servers. With all

components working in concert, the QFabric architecture behaves

as a single logical switch that seamlessly integrates into the

existing data center infrastructure.

In order to take full advantage of this single-tier architecture, It

departments need to utilize data center infrastructures that offer

the operational agility and manageability to adjust for shifting

requirements. Panduit provides a comprehensive, intelligent

data center offering that supports best practice methodologies.

Panduit’s data center solutions enable physical to logical

architecture integration, and deliver robust, scalable physical

infrastructures that address:

• Visibility and control for managing and automating real-time data

processes and documentation

• Convergence of new technologies and high-speed data

applications

• Operational efficiency through process improvement and It

initiatives, such as cooling conservation through energy efficient

data cabinets

• Capacity management for greater real estate utilization

• modular pods designed to support high-density applications

and provide consistent, reliable deployments while lowering

infrastructure risks and costs

Next StepsFor more information, please contact Juniper Networks at

www.juniper.net or Panduit at www.panduit.com.

About PanduitPanduit is a world-class developer and provider of leading-

edge solutions that help customers optimize the physical

infrastructure through simplification, agility, and operational

efficiency. Panduit’s Unified Physical Infrastructure (UPI) based

solutions give enterprises the capabilities to connect, manage,

and automate communications, computing, power, control, and

security systems for a smarter, unified business foundation.

Strong relationships with technology leaders, complemented with

its global staff and unmatched service and support, make Panduit

a valuable and trusted partner. For more information, please visit

www.panduit.com.

* Results are dependent upon various conditions. Please speak to a Panduit representative for details.

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3510450-001-eN may 2012

Copyright 2012 Juniper Networks, Inc. all rights reserved. Juniper Networks, the Juniper Networks logo, Junos, NetScreen, and ScreenOS are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. all other trademarks, service marks, registered marks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners. Juniper Networks assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies in this document. Juniper Networks reserves the right to change, modify, transfer, or otherwise revise this publication without notice.

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