Equinix is working with Facebook and the Telecom Infra Project to deploy and test the Facebook-designed packet-optical switches, known as Voyager, inside two of its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers. As part of the TIP “Open Optical Packet Transport” project group, Equinix worked closely with Facebook to field-test this next-generation packet-optical networking technology.
Voyager is the first step in Facebook and Equinix’s journey of developing the next-generation network ecosystem for hardware and software. Today’s news builds on a previous announcement to provide Cloud Service Providers, Network Service Providers and enterprises with an optimal environment to push technology boundaries and develop next-generation interconnection solutions. Equinix will continue to work with Facebook and other vendors to include TIP-based hardware and software in their architectures as they deploy inside Equinix and develop the TIP ecosystem.
“This emerging world of disaggregated optical networking will need a physical aggregation point where all the hardware and software can come together. With Equinix’s rich history in network and cloud neutrality, it makes perfect sense that Equinix be the place where CSPs, NSPs and the TIP hardware and software vendors can join together to deploy next-generation networks,” said Ihab Tarazi, CTO, Equinix.
“With Equinix’s leadership and support, the Voyager ecosystem will serve as a first ever white box for switching, routing and DWDM in the Wide Area Networks to exemplify a new way of open collaboration and innovation and has been contributed to the TIP community,” Hans-Juergen Schmidtke, Director of Engineering, Facebook.
