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Technology Industry

Exchange trades up to 10 gigabit: the consensus was to standardize the data center from end to end on a single vendor's products

Communications News, Feb, 2008

Joe Sternbauer, director of electrical engineering at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), has witnessed his organization's evolution from a mainframe-computing environment utilizing coax and shielded cabling to a distributed PC environment using unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cables. When the CBOE's data center network infrastructure needed upgrading, he played a major role in the process, having designed the original cabling infrastructure and power network as a consultant more than 20 years ago.

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"As a consultant, I had only provided the structured cabling design concept, while the buildouts over time were implemented using a best-bid approach," says Sternbauer. "When I came on board as a CBOE employee, I faced a cabling environment that consisted of products from a multitude of vendors. When you start mixing and matching like that, what you get is a conglomeration of systems that is not easy to manage or maintain."

In Sternbauer's opinion, the system as it existed was fundamentally flawed, inefficient and not cost effective.

In addition to coping with a multivendor environment, the task of supporting the thousands of moves, adds and changes required in a busy trading environment had resulted in a complex cabling network throughout the data center. When CBOE decided to upgrade its data center to support higher transmission speeds, the CBOE electrical group and IT department saw the opportunity not only to design an advanced 10-gigabit structured cabling system, but also to ensure their ability to properly manage the system and execute the day-to-day work orders that direct and track the electricians' activities in making required moves, adds and changes.

Founded in 1973, the CBOE is a fast-moving securities exchange, and one of the largest options marketplaces in the United States. Network performance in such a data-intensive environment is mission-critical. On any given day, CBOE's trading volume can reach 3.5 million trades or higher, with orders having to be electronically executed in a matter of subseconds. To make this possible, thousands of computer screens on the trading floor must convey volumes of information at high speed to the traders who rely on the data, literally from minute to minute.

When the CBOE needed to upgrade its network data center, the consensus was to standardize the data center from end to end on a single vendor's products. Following an evaluation of marketplace offerings, Belden was named the supplier for the network backbone. CBOE chose the Belden IBDN System 10GX, an augmented Category 6 UTP cabling solution designed specifically to support 10-Gigabit Ethernet.

FUTURE-PROOFED NETWORK

"When it came time to upgrade with the higher-density servers and faster switches, we looked to move to a full 10-gigabit solution to future-proof our network as far out as possible," explains Sternbauer.

The CBOE data center upgrade called for the installation of robust copper-based backbone cabling between 10-gigabit switches provided by Cisco and servers housed in Belden's Ultra Deep server enclosures. The IBDN System 10GX cabling system components include: 10GX cables, 10GX modular cords and 10GX 1U 48-port ultra high-density patch panels.

These components incorporate a series of performance-enabling technologies that allow the system to decrease alien near-end cross talk (NEXT), NEXT and impedance over traditional technologies, resulting in performance beyond augmented CAT 6 standards. The system provides performance up to 625 MHz.

For fiber links between data center locations, Sternbauer specified Belden IBDN FiberExpress, which includes 10-gig laser-optimized 50-micron multimode fiber, fiber patch cords, Optimax field-installable LC connectors and FiberExpress Manager.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Some singlemode fiber is also used for specific switching applications, such as outside links to other Chicago trading facilities. To enable gigabit horizontal connectivity to PCs and the nearly 6,000 screens on the trading floor, the team installed Belden DataTwist enhanced Category 5e cable, IBDN Gigaflex CAT 5e patch cords, 1U 24-port flex patch panels and GigaFlex jack modules for workstation outlets.

For efficient cable management and maintenance within the data center, CBOE deployed Belden's Ultra Deep server enclosures with a 24-inch by 42-inch footprint. The enclosures feature numerous top and bottom entry points for easy configuration and access. Also specified was an assortment of Belden cable-management tools and accessories designed for use with the racking systems and enclosures.

CBOE contracted with Commercial Light Co. to implement the 10-gigabit system throughout several of its data center locations, using a phased implementation approach. Commercial Light's electricians are trained and certified to install and test Belden IBDN systems to existing 10-gig copper and fiber standards.

Proper training and certification are important to Sternbauer. "We inspect, pretest and precertify everything we install using fiber cameras, OTDRs and the latest 10-gig testers and analyzers," he explains.

Technology Industry

Exchange trades up to 10 gigabit: the consensus was to standardize the data center from end to end on a single vendor's products

Communications News, Feb, 2008

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