As the world’s Internet population reaches 3.4 billion by the end of 2016, and with a global culture accustomed to consuming high quality content anywhere at any time, the stakes are high when it comes to securing the right data center interconnect (DCI) solution. Losing access to a data center can be disastrous, such as shutting down an entire enterprise’s operations or the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from online transactions.

The successful and efficient interconnection of data centers sits at the heart of the evolution to a web-scale world, and a wealth of recent technological breakthroughs in both software and hardware design have set new benchmarks for operational simplicity, scalability, and viable business economics.  To survive in the Web-scale world one must take into consideration multiple factors that impact both business transactions and internal operations. So what are the factors you should look for when choosing a data center interconnect platform? Here are some key attributes to consider:

• Simple operations and quick turn-up – Though designed for operational simplicity, a good DCI platform should enable hassle-free and faster execution of DCI projects. Easy planning, fast ordering, and quick delivery with rapid turn-up and intuitive management can all help lower operational costs and speed execution velocity. Whether the end goal is to underpin content delivery or to offer a DCI service to enterprise customers, simple operations and quick turn-up will help streamline operations, business performance, and each customer’s experience.

• Openness and programmability for easy automation with back-office tools – Northbound Interfaces (NBIs) and REST APIs allow data center operators to automate labor-intensive manual tasks to significantly reduce maintenance windows and free staff from repetitive, error-prone manual tasks.

• Peace of mind for traffic growth – High capacity and seamless scalability to multiple terabits per second can help data center operators meet traffic growth requirements for the foreseeable future without massive injections of CAPEX or network disruptions due to ongoing capacity increases.

• Development of unique and customizable operational tools – Leveraging application development portals and platform-embedded APIs, data center operators can develop unique and customizable software tools tailored to specific requirements without investing in physical hardware.

• Reduced recurring/operating costs – Optimized designs with low power consumption and compact footprints allow data center operators to reduce electricity, cooling, and real estate costs. Simple product architecture also helps to lower management, sparing, licensing, and training costs.

• High availability – Ciena’s DCI solutions leverage field-proven coherent optical processing technologies, trusted by customers around the world across various industry segments, to carry mission-critical traffic. Ciena has deployed over 100 million kilometers of coherent networking solutions worldwide, equivalent to 130 round trips to the moon. Ciena’s reputation for delivering highly reliable networks enables data center operators to eliminate worries about network failures and capitalize on high availability as a competitive differentiator.

• High flexibility – A good DCI platform should be designed to be flexible for various connections and interfaces, protocol rates, modulation schemes, and deployment scenarios, including whether they run over new or existing photonic line (protected or unprotected).

These factor can help to accelerate the pace of deployment, reduce operating costs, and raise the level of flexibility and efficiency in IT operations. In addition, the introduction of openness and programmability have made it possible to gain unprecedented operational simplicity, smooth integration with IT tools, and more efficient utilization of IT resources.

With the right data center solution in place you can be confident that you’ll be able to thrive in the on-demand economy, both now and in the future.