EDGE™ 4x4 Mesh Module | Data Center Leaf-Spine | Corning

Mesh Modules in Your Data Center FAQs

Read more about Mesh Modules by clicking on the questions below.

• What is Data Center Architecture?

  Data center architecture refers to the physical layout and structural design of a data center, which encompasses the arrangement of various components. During the design and construction stages, data center architecture is crafted to establish connections between switches and servers and determine the placement and interconnection of resources like servers, storage, networking infrastructure, and racks. There are different approaches to data center architecture, including traditional on-premises setups, cloud-based architectures, and hybrid models that combine elements of both.

• What is a Spine-and-Leaf architecture?

  The backbone of this network architecture is called the spine, from which each leaf is connected to further extend network resources. The network can grow uniformly by simply adding more spine or leaf switches, and without changing the network performance. Spine switches form the core of the network and connect to every leaf switch. Leaf switches, in turn, are connected to end devices like servers. This setup enables efficient communication between devices with low latency and high bandwidth.

• How does a Spine-and-Leaf architecture differ from traditional three-tier architecture?

  The size of networks have been growing over the last decade, resulting in a shift from a classical 3-tier network, Ethernet, architecture to a flatter and wider spine-and-leaf architecture. Spine-and-leaf utilizes a full mesh topology incorporating spine and leaf switches. This configuration offers superior scalability and resilience, facilitating uniform and seamless expansion and efficient traffic management within wired and cloud-based networks.

• What is a Mesh Network?

  A Mesh Network is a topology where components are interconnected to one another via switches, passing data through multiple paths. If one component or connection fails, there are alternate paths for data to route through. This type of network is reliable, can provide extended coverage, and can be used in cloud or wired network settings.