📊Data Centres | The Backbone of Reliable Connectivity & Resilience🔬

Data centres are the lifeline of digital infrastructure, providing essential reliability and resilience for a wide range of IT services. They are designed with sophisticated power and cooling systems to ensure continuous operation, making them a trusted home for critical assets like peering exchanges. In turn, these peering exchanges optimise connectivity by facilitating efficient data transfer between Internet Service Providers (ISPs). For businesses deploying SD-WAN, peering exchanges are crucial, as they directly impact the performance and reliability of broadband connections in the SD-WAN ecosystem.

Here is an example of a decent data centre outage in Africa and its impact:

Power & Cooling Resilience in Data Centres

Data centres are built to withstand the demands of continuous operation. Power systems, such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and diesel generators, provide backup during power outages, ensuring that servers stay online even in extended outages. Many data centres maintain a minimum of N+1 redundancy for both power and cooling, where “N” represents the essential capacity, and the “+1” denotes an additional backup. Some Tier IV data centres implement 2N redundancy, offering two independent systems for total power backup.

Cooling systems are equally robust, given that overheating can cause immediate and significant harm to server hardware. Many data centres use advanced cooling methods like liquid cooling, hot and cold aisle containment, and raised floors with temperature and humidity sensors. This high level of resilience is fundamental to housing critical components such as peering exchanges.

The following article on ITWeb highlights the above:

Peering Exchanges | Optimising Connectivity

Peering exchanges, also known as Internet Exchanges (IXs), are physical locations within data centres where multiple ISPs and network providers interconnect. Instead of routing data through a lengthy chain of intermediaries, peering exchanges allow direct data transfer between networks, optimising speed and reducing latency. By allowing these networks to "peer" with one another, ISPs can bypass the need for transit providers (IPTs) for inter-ISP data transfers, significantly improving both cost-efficiency and network performance.

In a peering exchange, networks connect directly to a shared switch, allowing traffic to be routed more efficiently between them. This bypasses the need for external routing via third-party networks and creates a direct path that optimises data flow. For SD-WAN deployments, peering exchanges are critical as they provide low-latency routes that enhance the quality of the user experience.

The Role of Peering Exchanges in SD-WAN

SD-WAN solutions rely on peering exchanges to deliver the performance that users expect. By connecting to various ISPs within a data centre through peering exchanges, SD-WAN solutions can route traffic based on real-time network conditions. In South Africa, where nearly 80% of traffic now passes through peering exchanges, reliance on IPTs has become a last resort. This shift underscores the importance of peering for optimised, high-speed connectivity.

For SD-WAN, peering exchanges improve performance by:

• Reducing Latency: With direct routes established between ISPs, data doesn’t need to travel across unnecessary networks, resulting in lower latency.

• Enhancing Resilience: Multiple peering options provide fallback routes in case of ISP issues, ensuring continuity of service.

• Boosting Throughput: Direct connections reduce congestion on shared networks, allowing for better throughput and data transfer rates.

• Cost Savings: By avoiding IPTs where possible, businesses reduce their dependency on paid transit paths, achieving both cost-efficiency and higher reliability.

Planning SD-WAN with Peering Exchange Resilience

When planning an SD-WAN deployment, resilience is critical, particularly in connectivity to geographically diverse peering exchanges. This approach ensures that if one peering exchange faces issues—whether due to technical difficulties or regional outages—another can serve as a backup. Geographic diversity in peering exchange connections means a wider coverage area for network routes, improving reach and redundancy.

A robust SD-WAN design incorporates multiple, regionally diverse peering exchanges, providing several benefits:

• Redundancy: Alternative paths through different peering exchanges offer fallback routes, vital for business continuity.

• Minimised Downtime: With multiple paths in place, the failure of one exchange or route has less impact on overall performance.

• Optimised Routing Choices: Access to multiple exchanges allows SD-WAN solutions to pick the best available path, improving performance across regions.

• Support for Broadband Reliability: For businesses leveraging broadband connections for SD-WAN, peering exchange diversity ensures better stability and reliability, especially when paired with last-mile broadband connections.

In South Africa, as the dependency on IPTs diminishes, the use of geographically diverse peering exchanges becomes even more essential. This infrastructure shift aligns well with SD-WAN’s design to select the most efficient path and provide a superior network experience.

The Future of Peering & SD-WAN in South Africa

South Africa's shift towards peering has revolutionised connectivity within the country. With almost 80% of traffic utilising peering exchanges, ISPs can now provide more reliable broadband for SD-WAN applications. The remaining role of IPTs is now primarily as a last-resort backup, as direct paths provided by peering exchanges are usually available and are highly cost-effective.

In an era where reliable and low-latency connectivity is a baseline requirement, data centres housing peering exchanges are fundamental to South Africa's digital infrastructure. SD-WAN solutions that leverage these exchanges are equipped to deliver resilient, high-performance connectivity tailored to the needs of modern businesses, making peering exchanges an indispensable part of the SD-WAN landscape.

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