EU-funded PhoxTroT to boost photonics for the data center

Berlin, Germany--Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, along with 17 other research and business outfits in the European Union (EU), are collaborating in the "PhoxTroT" project, which will concentrate on improving optical-transmission technologies for data centers. The intent is not only to boost data rates, but to lower cost and raise energy efficiency as well.

Large data centers operated by cloud providers consume energy at an extraordinary rate -- for example, Google’s server farms process many petabytes of data and consume 260 MW (enough power for a city of 200,000 households). The goal of the PhoxTroT project is to cut energy consumption by at least 50% while simultaneously doubling the capacity of data connections to 2 Tbit/s. This would also significantly reduce costs.

“The novelty of the PhoxTroT project is that we are now researching the synergies between the various technology components and are combining them with each other in a new research plan based on the ‘mix-and-match’ principle,” explains project coordinator Tolga Tekin from IZM.

Concentrating on three interfaces
During the project, new technologies are expected to emerge that can guarantee a photonic data connection that remains constant across hundreds of kilometers. For this purpose, the project partners are developing three prototypes for various hierarchy levels. They will realize the optical transmission on a printed-circuit board (“on-board”), “board-to-board,” and also “rack-to-rack.” By combining these interfaces, it will also be possible to bridge longer distances. In a further step, the project partners will engineer single-mode architectures that integrate optical chips onto one circuit board, allowing for signal transmission via one optical path instead of multiple paths.

The EU is providing EUR 9 million funding for the four-year research project, which began in October 2012. Eighteen companies and scientific installations from across Europe are involved: these include Fraunhofer IZM, Fraunhofer HHI, Vertilas GmbH, Xyratex Technology Ltd., ams AG, Meadville Aspocomp International Limited, AMO GmbH, National Technical University of Athens, DAS Photonics SL, Phoenix B.V., Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Compass Electro Optical Systems Ltd., Bright Photonics BV, Computer Technology Institute and Press – “Diophantus”, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of Southern Denmark, Universitat Politècnica de València, Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronica Centrum vzw.

Coordinating this project is a major task for IZM, as Tekin notes. “The greatest challenge is coordinating partners from a wide range of disciplines," says Tekin. "On the one hand, for example, there are the technology experts, and on the other hand, systems experts. We have to bring them all to one table, establish an understanding between them and guide the communications into the right channels.”

For more info, see: http://www.phoxtrot.eu/